Disbound season one
by Erina-chan
Summary: Yes we'd all like to write the best Pokémon Fanfic wouldn't we? But how far will one mystery author on FF.net go to achieve this - mixing two worlds that should not be, and toying with real people...just like characters in a story? (SEASON 1 COMPLETE)
1. The Beginning of the Beginning

**CHAPTERS 1-17 + OAV1 REVISED JUNE 2003**

****

**_'Disbound'_**

**_by Erina-chan_**

Who borrowed: the _Pocket Monsters _anime concept and cast; _Karlie_ (KazOhki); _Mia_ (Arrow); _Trish; Michelle _(*Hotaru_firefly*); _Sarah _(Sarah the Pokeprincess); _Rachel_ (the late pf14); _Dana _and _Jene; Jacqui._

Overall theme tune: Mezase Pokémon Mastuaa (Aim To Be A Pokémon Master)  
Ending theme tune: Minna ga Ita Kara (Now We're All Together)  
Website: 

~*~

**_SEASON ONE  
_****THEME TUNE: **Give A Reason; _Slayers NEXT_

~*~****

**Theme Song: **'Aratashii Tomodachi' _(New Friend) _- Pocket Monsters

* * *

~*~

**_"I will write the best Pokémon fanfic…"_**

_The figure sat in the shadows, its' face not even being illuminated by the dull blue light that radiated from the computer screen in front of it. _

_The figure, decidedly female, clicked onto Fanfiction.net, and typed her own Author Name into the Find Box. Scrolling down, she re-read the list of her favourite authors. "And you lot are going to help me…" she murmured, staring at the first name on the list: _**Erina-chan**

~*~ 

The girl with the fluffy hair was kissing a box. 

The man from Sky Digital cast sideways looks at the teen's mother, who seemed unperturbed by her daughter's actions. 

**"I don't know why you made such a fuss – we were only without satellite for a few days – and you have all your Japanese cartoon crap on tape," **said the girl's father, disapprovingly. She looked up at the tall man with a look of playful mock scorn in her grey eyes. 

**"But being without Sky meant I missed _one whole episode_ of Outlaw Star-" **

**"Haven't we ordered the subtitled box set of that for your birthday?" **cut in her mother, as her father paid the greasy satellite man. The girl continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. 

**"-and I missed taping an Escaflowne episode that I haven't got taped and you know, new Pokémon could have started suddenly, and I wouldn't have known-" **The girl stopped as she realised she was alone in the room. 

Shrugging her shoulders, Erin grabbed the finger-print smudged control and sank blissfully into one of her huge orange couches. She reached to one side of her, and grabbed a thick, dog-eared A4 jotter pad that was falling to pieces. She flicked carefully through the pages, full of her looped, tidy writing until she came to where she was making notes for the next chapter of her fanfic, Kaleidoscope. Holding the remote in her free hand, she ritualistically pressed the buttons 106. 

~*~ 

_The figure skimmed Erina-chan's Author Page. Yes, she'll do fine, she thought, returning to her own Author Page. A smile played on her lips as she saw the next name on her list. Who could have Erina-chan without including _**KazOhki**? 

~*~ 

The fingernail of her index finger tapped on the P key on the keyboard to the tune of Rhythm Emotion, as Karlie quickly re-read part seven of her fanfic, True Colours. She made an exasperated noise and deleted half a paragraph in frustration. 

Sitting back in her computer chair, and giving her arched back a rest, Karlie pushed her glasses back up her nose and grabbed the TV guide. She grinned as she read that today's Pokémon re-run was 'The Joy of Pokémon'. _Hehehehe topless Tracey,_ her grin seemed to say, as she abandoned her computer in favour of the bandana-ed one, settling on her sofa, and punching 106 onto her remote. 

~*~ 

**pf14**_ was the next name on the list – a new Pokémon Fanfiction author, but nevertheless, one who showed more than enough writing talent to be included in the plan… The figure skimmed pf14's Author Page, and saw to her pleasure that she was already acquainted with Erina-chan and KazOhki…_

_~*~_

Rachel ran a hand through her short blonde hair, jauntily humming a random SClub7 song as she sat at the table in her sitting room, drawing a kiriban on a piece of paper. Her pencil paused suddenly, and she bit her lip in hesitation…how many spikes did Ash's hair have again? Quickly, she scanned her surroundings for a picture, but found none. 

Sighing, she went to leave her comfortable chair, but stopped, upon noticing her watch said 4:09. Smiling, she reached for the remote, turning on the TV, and flicking to Sky One, by pressing the numbers 106. 

~*~ 

_The next name on the list was different, the figure saw with approval. Not a gawky English teenaged girl, but a full grown Australian woman…yes, it would be beneficial to have an 'adults' view on this story the figure nodded. And of course, nobody could ever dream of writing a better Pokémon/William Shakespeare crossover than: _**Trish**_…_

~*~ 

On the other side of the world from the other three, Trish was pulling another 'all-nighter'. She vowed to herself that she'd get this next installment of 'Midsummer Magic' up before she allowed herself sleep. She fidgeted with her long, black hair, before pulling it back into a messy pony-tail, and focusing all her attention on the words on her computer screen. 

~*~ 

_The figure glanced at the Author Page of the next name on her list – few stories, but _***Hotaru_Firefly***_was not a new author. It was a shame, the figure thought, for she had enjoyed 'Hotaru's' stories. Well…maybe it was time that *Hotaru_Firefly* got back into the Fanfiction business…_

~*~ 

In a house not so far away from Erin's, Michelle sat at her computer looking bored as she composed an email. 

_Hey riny how'd the move go? Wots ur new fone number? I am bored stiff and there isn't ne one online oh yea nic is a twat cya_

_Luv from, ginger in germany_

Michelle laughed as she re-read the email whilst waiting for it to send – she knew Erin would have a fit when she read it. Physically, Erin would complain when anyone used text slang around her. A rare ray of English sunshine caught on Michelle's hair, which was indeed, ginger for the moment. Ah the wonders of hair dye. 

After a brief scuffle with her brother over rights to the computer, Michelle gave up, and stalked into the lounge, sitting down next to her toddler brother as he gazed enraptured at Pikachu on the television screen. 

~*~ 

_Too many die-hard Sakashippy authors… the figure thought disapprovingly. True, she wanted her story to be the best Ash-and-Misty on Fanfiction.net, but it would be useful to have an unbiased point of view. Grinning, she scrolled down, skipping a few authors on her list that was immediately deemed unworthy in the wake of the next addition to her team: _**Arrow**_…_

_~*~_

Maria sat on her bed, talking on the telephone, lazily twirling a biro between her fingers and stretching her legs out on the sheets. A world apart from the others in America, her day was practically only just beginning. The girl's newly shortened, dark hair spread over her pillow as she argued half-heartedly with her friend on the other end of the line. One of the shoulders of her top fell down, but she made no move to straighten it as she continued her friendly assault. 

~*~ 

_One more place… the figure thought. One more place in my team…the Elite Eight, she smiled. The chosen six had been chosen well, she complimented herself – they all would get along reasonably well, and their separate personalities and writing talents would compliment each others creativeness. Yes, they were indeed the most dynamic team one could muster in so short a space of time._

_Speaking if space…who would be the lucky eighth? She skimmed her Favourite Author List once more. There was something missing… we have an unbearably soppy romance author; a Tracey lover with remarkable plot ideas; a Richie lover that counts as the 'new blood'; the 'adults' point of view; the half-heartened writer, just waiting to be revitalised; and finally, a Gary lover, who had an unbiased view towards the Ash/Misty coupling…_

_"There," the figure whispered aloud, prodding at the computer screen at one of the names on her list. "There you are number eight…the team is complete. Now, all I have to do is begin…" The girl removed her finger from the screen, leaving a smear over the name: _**Sarah the PokePrincess**

~*~ 

Sarah lounged on the soft carpet of her sitting room. For no apparent reason, which often means for the best reason of all, she began to hum, softly. The single, low pitched note seemed to echo off the walls of the room, and for one brief, epigrammatic moment, the background sounds in the room faded away, leaving Sarah trapped with the eerie note, originating from the depths of her mind. 

As abruptly as it had begun, the note trailed off into silence; then the sounds of the droning television and the wind outside filled the void in the room. Sarah blinked her wide, brown eyes, and shuddered slightly as a chill crept in with the wind and ran up and down her bare arms. Moving from a cross-legged position into having her legs stretched out in front of her, Sarah kept half her mind on the now half-over re-run of Pokémon on Sky One, and the other half on her next Lonelyshipping fiction. 

~*~ 

_The mysterious 'Author' smiled to herself, almost childishly as she picked up an ordinary, lidless biro, complete with chewed end. Author looked down at the blank piece of paper on the typical desk in front of her, pausing as she realised what she was about to start._

_The single piece of paper shimmered suddenly, releasing a few lone golden sparks that continued to dance around Author's face, but surprisingly, not illuminating it in the slightest. She smiled with only half her mouth, creating a slightly manic, stereotypically evil look._

_With her arm shaking ever so slightly, Author brought the blue biro down to the now appearing 'normal' paper, writing the words 'The Best Pokémon Fanfic' in large letters over the top of the page. "By Me," she continued to write. "With the aid of the:"_

_In an unbreaking line across the page, Author began to write kanji, one complicated pattern per person._

**Power : Innocence : Passion : Soul : Wisdom : Reality : Hope : Sincerity**

_"Page end.." Author whispered, throatily, and the page gleamed again, wiping the blue lines and words from its surface; but Author knew that the page was safe, off somewhere, marking the beginning of the beginning. _

_Yes, if there was a clique to quote right about now, thought Author, it would be that, this, is only the beginning…_

~*~ 

**"Tracey…can I move yet?" **mumbled Misty, trying her hardest to maintain her grin whilst speaking. Tracey mumbled something from behind his easel which amounted to 'no you may not' – and Misty sighed from inside her stomach, keeping her facial shape intact. 

Nearby, Ash and Gary were locked in a fearsome battle. 

**"Any nines?" **Ash asked, through gritted teeth. Gary looked down at his fanned hand of cards, and inwardly smirked as he saw three nines. He looked up again, meeting Ash's dark, almost black eyes with his lighter, auburn ones, laughing to himself as he saw how involved his rival was in the game. 

**"Go fish," **he purred, in his nasal voice, making Ash sweatdrop, and moan ever so slightly. 

In a bored fashion, Brock moved from where he was sitting at the river bank to peer inquisitively over Tracey's shoulder. Brock observed Tracey's charcoal sketch of Misty, which he was planning to paint later. 

**"Cuh," **he jeered suddenly. Tracey's shady green eyes opened wide as his concentration was shot, and he turned to glare at the tall, brown haired boy behind him. 

**"…What?" **he asked irritably. 

**"They're not that big," **Brock scoffed, gesturing at an area of the sketch. Misty's eyes opened widely as she overheard this. Tracey blushed, more out of embarrassment for Misty than himself, as was his easy-going way. 

**"I was trying to be nice," **he whispered, but Misty's sharp ears picked this up, and a scowl overshadowed her forced grin. 

**"Screw this!" **she growled, wearily. Moving away from her restricting pose, she wandered down the river back to where Ash and Gary say, both intently into their game as they sat underneath the dappled shadows of the tree. Wordlessly, Misty sank down to her knees next to Ash, and silently listened to their banter. 

**"Ash?" **she said, after a few minutes. 

**"Mmm Myst?" **mumbled a preoccupied boy. 

**"You have one King, right?"**

**"Yeah…"**

**"And there are two cards left in the deck, right?"**

**"Yeah…"**

**"But Gary just denied he has any Kings…but unless that pack was minus a King, Gary's lying." **Gary sweatdropped slightly, holding his fanned hand of cards closer to his chest under the gaze of the smirking redhead. Ash just looked confused. 

**"Mwa?" **Sighing impatiently, Misty smacked at Gary's clenched hand, sending his cards fluttering out of his grasp and towards the grass. 

Suddenly, as he watched the cards flutter downwards, Ash felt a strange sensation in his chest – almost like it was hard to breathe, but more like an unexplainable, unregulated, primitive, _fear_. Ash was overwhelmed by the sensation of being hunted, being trapped, being watched… 

Time seemed to be taking forever as the playing cards inched their way towards the carpet of grass, far, far below them. 

**"See Ash?" **came a voice, snapping Ash out of it. Suddenly he was staring into his best friend's inquisitive teal eyes, as she held his rival in a headlock. Gary was giving off rather undignified squeals from underneath Misty's arm. 

**"Mmmamtsh mmmmet mjer mmmof mbeww!!!" **he complained. 

**"Ash, get her off me?" **Misty grinned, brightly. Suddenly, she stopped as she realised that Ash was staring straight ahead, lightly touching his bottom lip with his index finger. His forehead held beads of perspiration not created by the game, and Misty looked at her friend in concern, her grip loosening on Gary, enabling him to scramble away. **"Ash?" **she asked, cautiously. **"Ash, you okay?"**

**"Yeah, I'm fine," **smiled Ash, turning his eyes onto her, and looking perfectly back to normal to her, making her smile in light relief. **"I just had the weirdest feeling that something's gonna happen – something…not very good…like something's just beginning…"**

**"_Something_?" **Gary sneered, settling back against a tree trunk. **"Ladies and gentlemen!" **he sniggered, holding his clenched fist up to his mouth like a microphone. **"Ash Ketchum has cracked!"**

**"He's right," **teased Misty. **"These are lazy, hazy, summer days in Pallet Town. Nothing ever happens." **Ash nodded in agreement, turning around so he could lean against Misty's back instead of a tree trunk, moving his cap so it shaded his eyes from the sun. Misty indulged herself in a brief moment of femininity, and began to fashion a daisy-chain. 

Suddenly, Pikachu ran towards Ash, shattering the relative peace on the riverbank. Clinging to her tail with her tiny, pointed arms, was Togepi, chirruping in fear, launching herself into Misty's arms at the first possible opportunity. Tracey and Brock wandered over, abandoning the easel. 

Ash's face was set hard again. 

**"You too, Pikachu?" **he murmured. His Electric companion 'chuued' a reply, before turning her soulful, worried brown eyes up to a seemingly perfect, cloudless blue sky. 

_'Innocence…passion…' _the newly sprung up wind rattled through the trees, repeating these two incantations over and over. Pikachu looked around warily. _'Disbound…' _whispered the trees. 

And somewhere very far away, two teenaged girls sat bolt upright on their respective sofas, clutching at their chests as they felt their lungs seize up… 


	2. Cupid

**Theme Song: **'Upside Down' - Kaitou Saint Tail

* * *

_"Innocence and Passion," __moaned Author, as she sat at her desk in the dim light. The hand holding the biro jerked back and forth across the paper, drawing the kanji of innocence and passion intertwined over and over. She herself sat back in the chair with her eyes closed, until suddenly they opened with a snap. **"Disbound!" **she cried, as loud as she dared. The lines on the page, the separate drawings merged into one large scribble, glowed with a bright gold._

~*~ 

Ash and Pikachu sat under the tree staring warily upwards, the once pleasant sun seemingly hidden even though there was not a cloud in the sky. The warmth that the group of teens had been shading from had gone, unable to get to them on the chilled wind that had sprung up. 

_'Innocence…passion…' _the wind rattled through the trees, repeating these two incantations over and over. Pikachu looked around warily. _'Disbound…' _whispered the trees. 

And somewhere very far away, two teenaged girls sat bolt upright on their respective sofas, clutching at their chests as they felt their lungs seize up… 

The sound started softly at first – it could have been easily passed off as the faraway, playful call of a Pidgey fledgling; that is, if it hadn't been the only noise that they could hear. 

As the noise grew louder, shriller and more desperate, Tracey and Brock looked at each other uneasily. Misty's mouth gaped open slightly and she held Togepi closer to her. Gary opened his eyes, joining Ash and Pikachu in their swooping visual search of the skies. 

**"This is freaky…" **breathed Brock, backing away from the tree where his friends were collectively assembled, as if he expected them to spontaneously combust. The sound was evident now; the high pitched, shrill scream of a young girl in fear. All of a sudden, there was a universal gasp from Ash, Gary and Pikachu, as they saw a black dot seem to materialise in the sky above them, as far up as they could see. 

The figure fell downwards towards them, screaming her head off as she plummeted. Everyone panicked, rushing to do something, but they misjudged the speed at which she was falling. Ash reached for Noctowl's Pokéball in a split-second movement, but before he could release the Owl Pokémon from it's confinement, the girl seemed to slow, and came to a peaceful stop, hovering above Brock's arms. 

Unsure about what to do, Brock reached up and plucked the now silent girl out of the air. She had fainted. As they laid her on the ground, a green and red duffelbag crashed to the ground, landing at the base of a tree nearby, scaring the hell out of Gary, who was hanging at the sidelines, trying to look cool. Misty broke the silence as Gary edged up to the group. 

**"WHAT just happened?" **she yelled, bluntly. There was silence; no one knew what to say, and Misty hadn't really expected an answer anyway. The five of them observed the new-comer quietly, as Togepi hid behind Misty's legs, and Pikachu sniffed at the girl inquisitively. 

The girl looked no more than Misty's age…15 or so. She had a heart-shaped face and thick, mousy coloured hair that fanned out from her face like a cushion. She was petite, but had long legs compared to the rest of her body, whereas everything else about her, down to her fingers was small. She looked like a normal girl, wearing a pair of denim dungarees over a simple teeshirt with cartoons on it. But 'normal girls' do not tend to randomly materialise and plummet through the air, Misty reasoned with herself.

Suddenly, the girl's arm flicked upwards, and she groaned as she pushed her fringe back with the back of a limp hand to gingerly touch her throbbing forehead. They all backed away warily, as the girl opened her eyes. Initially, they flashed a dull blue colour, the likes of which they had never seen in eye colour in their colourful world, but then the seven observers watched as they shimmered gold, then silver, then faded into a more vibrant blue, not unlike the colour of Misty's eyes. 

Erin sat up in alarm. She blinked. And the seven people surrounding her blinked as well. And the Pikachu sitting by her shoulder leant over into her line of vision, announcing her presence with a sympathetic 'chuuu?' 

Erin screamed, and promptly fainted again. 

~*~ 

Delia Ketchum cooed in a worried, motherly fashion. 

**"Misty dear," **she said, **"Could you get me a cold compress please?" **In a few seconds, Misty reappeared at her side with a wrung out, damp cloth which Delia pressed over the unconscious girl's forehead. 

Misty's brow furrowed slightly, as Mrs Ketchum continued to fuss around the still girl. Suddenly, she began to feel wary; not of the girl per say, but of the feeling of being watched. She whirled around to see that Gary was watching her with intense eyes from across the room, where he was leaning suffixed against the wall, near to where Ash was accepting a collect call on the vidphone. 

"Placing. Call. Placing. Call. Placing. Call," chanted the electronic, female voice. Suddenly the screen shuddered into life, revealing an earnest looking face, framed with sandy brown hair. 

**"Ash?" **asked a familiar voice. Gary turned and straightened up from the wall, and stood behind Ash with his arms folded, bending down slightly so he could see into the monitor of the vidphone. **"Gary?" **the voice continued. **"Is that you two? I'm on a payphone and the monitor's really awful."**

**"Yeah, hey Rich," **answered Ash, curiously. **What's up? Where are ya?"**

**"Um, training in Mount Moon," **replied Richie, absently , as he kept looking behind him. **"Hey Ash, something weird just happened to me…"**

**"Lemme guess," **Gary murmured sardonically, to himself, not really expecting Richie to be able to hear him. **"Some weird chick just fell out of the sky and landed on you?" **Richie's pale eyes widened considerably, and he nodded frantically, gesturing behind him to where a girl was perched on top of a boulder, babbling from fear and trying to keep a watchful eye on, and scramble away from a harmless baby Igglybuff that was cavorting in the grass nearby. 

Ash sighed to himself, taking off his hat so he could run his hands through his spiky dark hair in exasperation. 

**"Anyway," **continued Richie, returning to his soft voice and stature. **"Since I'm not that far from Pallet, and I am far from my hometown, I was wondering if I could bring her to yours; it makes sense…" **Ash nodded his approval, before throwing the receiver to Gary, and mouthing 'be nice to him' before jogging over to where his mother was leaning over the unmoving stranger. 

Ash slotted in behind Misty, resting his hands on her shoulders, as his mother looked up at him expectantly. 

**"Richie's over by Mount Moon," **Ash explained. **"And apparently he had a girl fall out of the sky on him as well – she's babbling so much he can't understand a word she says and…" **Ash paused, grinning as the humour caught him. **"She's frightened of an Igglybuff…" **Delia and Misty smiled. 

**"Well of course the poor dear must come here," **Delia interrupted, before Ash could continue. Ash turned around and gave Gary the thumbs-up, who in turn relayed the message to Richie, and hung up. **"Now Ash, if we are having more guests you'll need to go to the Pokémart for me, okay?"**

**"Yeah sure mom," **murmured Ash, staring at the girl again warily. Gary wandered over. 

**"I'm going over to Gramps' lab for a while, check on my Pokémon," **he announced. **"I'll be back in ten minutes or so." **Ash turned around to where Misty was fingering the pendant from around the sleeping girl's neck. 

**"Misty?" **he asked. She looked up. 

**"Ash, she wasn't wearing this pendant a minute ago," **she murmured, uneasiness creeping into her voice. Ash tried to shrug it off. 

**"C'mon, let's go to the shop," **he laughed, grabbing the redhead with one hand, and the shopping list and yen notes his mother held out with the other. 

Across the room, near to where Tracey and Brock were sitting on the sofa, Togepi shivered delicately, sucking herself into her shell unhappily. Pikachu nudged the egg lightly with her nose, pushed Togepi closer to the cushions of the couch. Turning around, she saw Ash waiting expectantly for her to follow him as he stood by the front door. For once in her life, Pikachu shook her head at him, and he shrugged, and left. 

**"Pika pi…" **Pikachu whispered quietly as she curled up protectively in Brock's lap. 

~*~ 

Erin's head was pounding. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. She could hear muffled voices and instantly thought of her younger siblings. 

**"Get out of my room," **she growled suddenly. Brock and Mrs Ketchum, who were sitting near her, were taken aback, and looked cautiously at the now moving girl. **"I don't wanna go to school!" **Erin continued to moan, from somewhere deep in her sleep. Brock watched warily as her eyes began to blink open. 

**"Please don't scream again…" **he begged. As her eyes opened wide, Erin gasped, scooting backwards on the makeshift bed, before stopping and holding her hand up to her protesting head. 

**"You-you have no eyes," **she murmured weakly. Brock looked annoyed. 

**"My dear are you okay?" **asked Delia, worriedly placing the back of her cool hand to Erin's throbbing temple. **"Can I get you anything?" **

**"K-ketchum…" **Erin managed to stutter, her eyes opening even wider. Delia looked confused. 

**"Do I know you, dear?" **she asked. Erin's eyes glanced around the room. _Delia. Brock. Tracey. Pikachu. What looks suspiciously like The Egg, _her brain told her. But then again, her brain also told her this was very impossible…in fact it was so impossible, it shouldn't even have the slightest connection with the word 'possible'. 

**"I think I'm gonna faint…" **she managed to murmur, lying back down weakly. Brock sighed impatiently. 

**"What. Is. Your. Name." **Tracey asked slowly, in a patronising way complete with hand gestures. Erin stared at him, in a disgusted way at being treated like a three year old. 

**"My. Name. Is. Erin." **she answered, sarcastically, swinging her legs around and sitting up. 

**"Erin?" **Tracey repeated. **"That's a weird name." **Erin glared at him. 

**"At least I'm not a boy with a girl's name, _Tracey_," **she snapped. Suddenly, she noticed the addition around her neck. **"What is this?" **Tracey however, couldn't get past the fact that this weirdo knew his name 

**"Course I know you," **she murmured. **"Delia Hanako Ketchum – Brock Takeshi…whatever; Slate? And Tracey Kenji Sketchitt…"**

**"When did Queen of the Undead awaken?" **came a smirking voice. Erin sighed. 

**"Gary Shigeru Oak?" **she guessed without turning around. Gary faltered slightly, before walking into her vision. **"I watch you guys on…television…" **Erin murmured. **"And this has to be the most vivid dreams I have _ever_ had…" **Suddenly, she looked up, hopefully. **"Where are Ash and Misty? Are they off making out? _Please_ tell me they're off making out!" **Delia giggled and Brock made a disgusted face. 

Erin turned her attention back to the pretty, gem pendant around her neck. Brock bent down to look at it. 

**"It's pretty," **he murmured. **"Hey Trace, what is this? Amberite?" **Tracey knelt down to study the gem. Suddenly, he gasped, and whipped a large magnifying glass out of his previously flat back pocket. Erin laughed. 

**"How do you people do that?" **she asked, grinning. 

**"Don't move for a sec," **Tracey murmured, as he observed the shining cyan stone. **"There's some kanji scratched into the gem…"**

**"You're joking," **sneered Gary, as Delia wandered off humming to dust something. **"It's way too small to have legible kanji on it!"**

**"I'm a Watcher," **Tracey answered in a preoccupied voice. **"I notice these things. It looks like the kanji for, like, Purity…" **

**"Innocence?" **suggested Brock. Tracey nodded. 

**"Yeah that's it, and there's a proper word on the back of the gem. Riny."**

**"My nickname," **offered Erin, as a possible explanation. 

**"Well okay 'Riny'," **sighed Brock, standing up. **"Let's get your little friend over here from Mount Moon and see what on earth's going on."**

Erin looked confused as she tucked the moderately heavy piece of jewellery underneath her top, reluctant to take it off. 

**"My…friend?"**

~*~ 

_Oh yes, thought Author, smirking as she watched the scene. Your little friend. And you'll have a lot more friends by the time the beginning of the beginning is done._

_The paper on the desk was now clear once more. Author picked up the biro again, feeling an energy surge through her arm as the nib came in contact with the paper._

_"Hope…" she began to moan to herself, as the kanji came unwittingly from the ballpoint of the pen…_

~*~ 

The white painted door to the room opened, and three sets of eyes looked up expectantly as Ash entered the room holding a red and green duffelbag. He was followed by Misty, who was followed by the strange, and petrified girl that Richie was gently guiding forwards. 

Suddenly, she grinned broadly, and her eyes lit up behind her glasses, watching the three boys in the room intently. Her gaze faltered, then concentrated on the middle boy who sweatdropped, pushing back a lock of dark green hair and his red, elastic headband. Karlie sighed, wistfully. 

**"I love dreams like this…" **she smirked to herself, sinking down onto the sofa. Tracey was standing behind it, trying to back away, but by now the new arrival was latched onto his arm, staring adoringly up at him. 

**"Weird girls…" **Tracey muttered. 

**"Hey guys-" **started Richie, smiling around at the group. **"This is, um, Karlie." **There was a chorus of 'hellos' but Karlie remained gazing at Tracey in a passionate fashion. She had a pendant like Erin's but in a deep, warm orangey colour, that resembled amberite more closely. Karlie's hair was a few shades darker than Erin's, but no way near as thick. She was a few inches taller than her, but shorter than Tracey. She was really quite pretty, Tracey thought. If only she wasn't draping herself all over him… 

**"Lemme see your pendant," **he murmured, clutching the small stone and inspecting it with the magnifying glass. The others watched expectantly. **"Passion," **Tracey deciphered, with a quirk of his eyebrow. He turned the gem over. **"Kaz."**

**"Yeah I don't know where this came from," **said Karlie, speaking quietly as Tracey let go of her necklace. Tracey smiled at her. 

**"Yeah we know. Gary?" **he called. **"Go get Erin down here, but for God's sakes do NOT go barging into the bathroom – that's all she needs right now!" **Gary sniggered and headed up the stairs. 

Karlie fiddled with the chain on her pendant. She noticed that the pendant was tightly close to her neck, and there was no way that it could have been slipped over her head, but there was no break in the chain, no catch where a normal necklace would have fastened. Her fingertips strayed from the chain as if it was burning her, as she realised that there was no way anyone could have put the pendant on her. 

Then the implication of Tracey's words hit her, and she sat up straight on the couch, gazing up the stairs with her mouth slightly hanging open. 

**"Erin?!" **She grabbed onto Tracey's arm. **"By any chance, was this a girl around my age; a lot of hair; probably insulted you?" **Tracey nodded warily. 

**"You've met her?" **Karlie furrowed her eyebrows. 

Outside, the trees began to be buffeted around by the suddenly strong word, and Pikachu's long ears picked out the words: _"Hope…disbound…" _in the seemingly pointless wailing of the airstream. 

~*~ 

Maria sat by the stream, feeling surprisingly calm. She twirled her new accessory between her thumbs. Her pendant was identical to the others, but hers was a deep, deep green, verging on black unless the sun was shining on it. On one side was what looked like simply a scratched pattern, and on the other side her preferred nickname was etched: Mia. 

She was around the same height as Karlie; maybe an inch taller. Sighing, and hugging her knees closer to her, Mia refastened her pair of hairclips that was holding back the front, dark brunette bangs of her hair. The only explanation she could think of was that she dozed off while talking on the phone, which was unlike her. It also wasn't like her to have such vivid, vibrant dreams, in which she could feel a summers breeze blowing pleasantly against her bare shoulders. Everything seemed so very…very… 

**"Real…" **she whispered, as she stood up slowly. There was no sense staying still anyway, so she began to walk. It was a picturesque little route, with bright green grass under a bright blue sky and the road was nothing more than a sandy brown scar in the ground where no grass grew. It was just like a scene from Pokémon, Mia thought, smiling to herself. 

Suddenly, Mia came to a complete standstill, and gasped. She had come to a clearing, and could see a large, grand looking house in front of her, with a huge, colourful sign hanging on the front, over the impressive entrance doors. 

**'IMITE HOUSE' **the large sign announced proudly. Mia chewed on her bottom lip slightly as she caught sight of a flash of pink and turquoise. 

**"Duplica?" **she murmured, to no one in particular. 

~*~ 

_Well that was three…who needed a 'protector' next? Author was startled as she saw Gary running out of the bathroom in Pallet with Innocence chasing after him, yelling swearwords in Celtic. She smirked. Well, Gary sure will if she gets hold of him, she thought._

_Poor Gary, he's so lonely, Author thought, as she cleared the paper with the kanji of Hope on it, and picked up her biro again. Gary needs someone to teach him how to find his…soul._

_"Soul…" she began to wail, her voice growing stronger, and her hand that held the biro sped quickly across the page, marking it with the angular kanji of the Soul…_

~*~ 

**"By any chance," **began Karlie, slowly, after they had dragged Erin off Gary and placed her in front of Karlie. **"Are you a mushy Sakashippy author from Fanfiction.net who owes me a Rivalshippy story?" **A grin spread slowly across Erin's face. 

**"I do if you're Kaz," **she smiled. Karlie matched the smile. 

**"Yup!" **Erin mocked sighed. 

**"Just when I thought it couldn't get any weirder!"**

**"Where is that fic by the way 'Rin?" **asked Karlie, accusingly. 

**"Can we focus?" **butt in Misty, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa for a while. 

**"What's a Rivalshippy?" **asked Richie, shyly. 

And the trees outside wailed along with Erin and Karlie's laughter. 

_'Soul…disbound…'_

~*~ 

Adding the finishing shading to Ash's hair, Rachel suddenly stopped, feeling her chest lock up. In alarm, she leapt from her sofa but couldn't cry out as it felt like her throat was on fire. She tried to scream, but the pain in and around her throat was too immense. 

The school regulation, black and yellow, HB pencil rolled across the carpet of the empty room, and a breeze that had sprung up from nowhere ruffled the corners of the papers left on the sitting room table. 


	3. I Am

**Theme Song: **'I Am' - Inuyasha

* * *

** "No, s'ok Todd. No, don't worry – just…ring me if anything comes up, okay? 'Kay, bye." **Ash hung up the vidphone receiver, and the image of the boy with the wavy brown hair disintegrated into black. Ash sighed as he flipped through his address book. He didn't know what he was so concentrated on, because he sure as hell wasn't paying the correct amount of attention to the address book, but he didn't hear the door slide open. Misty slipped into the room unnoticed, making him startled slightly when she placed her hand on his shoulder. 

**"Any luck?" **she murmured. Ash shook his head. 

**"Looks like we're the only people to have these girls," **he answered. **"I've tried almost everyone. Hey, can I borrow your address book?" **Misty nodded. 

**"Sure – why?"**

**"Cos you have some people's numbers that I don't," **he stated simply. Misty nodded, and went to retrieve her book from her backpack upstairs. As she passed through the sitting room, the front door shuddered as someone banged on it. Misty frowned – it was quite late in the evening. Brock stood up from the sofa yawning, and wandered over to the door, scratching his back lazily. 

Gary was leaning against the white door frame in the twilight outside, a smirk on his face that made Misty want to slap him. 

**"What?" **chorused both Brock, Richie and Misty at the same time. Gary arched an eyebrow as he gazed into the sitting room, seeing Erin and Karlie leaning on each other half asleep as they gazed at the television, unaware of anything else. 

**"Nice little party you've got going here," **Gary snorted. **"I've got one more." **He gestured behind him to where they could barely make out the figure of Tracey in the dusk, coaxing somebody in his gentle voice. 

**"Another girl?" **asked Ash, popping up from nowhere, and being smacked down by Misty's balled-up fist as he got in her way. **"Is she from the same place as the other two?"**

**"We dunno," **sighed Tracey, suddenly. **"She's kinda in shock – keeps mumbling something about her throat and the spikes on your hair Ash." **Everyone sweatdropped. 

**"Did she fall from the sky too?" **Misty practically whispered, her eyes intent on the distant spot in the gloom outside where they could make out the figure of the girl. 

**"I was mucking out the Ponyta…" **began Gary, but he was silenced by an extremely tired and seemingly irritable Tracey. 

**"He was watching me muck out the Ponyta," **he corrected. **"And this girl came hurtling down towards me, screaming her head off just like Erin…and I was gonna catch her…but Gary shoved me out of the way and caught her…" **All eyes turned to Gary sceptically. He sweatdropped. 

**"Hey, I just knew those pansy girl arms of yours would never be able to support her, Sketchitt! And hey, what can I say?" **he continued, shrugging. **"I have a thing for blondes," **he lied. By now, they seemed to have caught the attention of the 'weird girls', who were watching intently from their perch by the television. It was quite amusing the way they seemed to be frightened of everything around them, and in awe of him, thought Ash, smiling. 

As if on cue, the group by the front door was interrupted by the 'new-comer'; a slim, young girl with short, blonde hair. Everyone's eyes automatically went to the crystal clear gem pendant around the girl's neck, but Tracey beat them with the answer before they could ask. 

**"Soul. Rach," **he stated, simply. The blonde girl looked up at them with frightened eyes, and seemed to swoon slightly under their gazes. Brock sighed impatiently. 

**"If you're gonna faint then you might as well go over there," **he snickered, jabbing a finger in Erin's general direction. She stood up, glaring. Suddenly, her eyes took on an all-blue colour, and her mouth hung open slightly. Karlie was the only one who seemed to notice this. 

**"Be nice to me, Brock," **Erin murmured, in not her usual voice. **"I am your Protector…" **Suddenly, Karlie slapped Erin around the back of her head. Her eyes cleared, and she reached up to pat the back of her head, glaring at Karlie. _What was that for? _she mouthed. 

**"Could have fooled me, Erin," **Brock continued to tease. **"If I remember rightly, I was the one who caught you after you plummeted!" **Erin looked at him, in confusion. 

~*~ 

_Author tapped the end of the biro against her teeth impatiently. Where was Hope? She should have been transported to the one who needed hope, and then they should have joined up with the others. Author whined suddenly, a pathetic, pitiful sound._

_Why do my stories never turn out right? Why are they never, ever good enough? There's always a problem…always something that spoils my perfection, she thought, disgruntled._

_Well, dinner soon, she thought, happily. One more author disbound before food? she thought. She extracted the biro from her mouth, and surveyed the half full piece of paper in front of her. There had almost been a disaster – Soul had almost gone to the one who was bound to Sincerity – but Author had managed to fix that one._

_"Page end," she murmured, feeling a chill of excitement course through her as the paper cleansed itself. Just like I'll have to start cleansing my perfect story of certain characters soon, she thought to herself, watching someone in her mind's eye. Ah well, that came later. Back to business._

_"Reality," she murmured, her hand drawing the kanji of its own accord now. Author briefly noticed this – what does one think when one realises that ones own hand is writing by itself? In a different language? With a different alphabet? Author didn't have much time to think, as the power of her decisions ripped through her veins, and she began to laugh, loudly for no reason._

_"Reality!" she commanded. **"Disbound!"**_

_~*~_

**"Am I okay?" **repeated Rachel, a slightly crazed look in her eyes. **"Am I _okay_? Let's see here – I've just taken like a bazillion mile drop through the air…_downwards_…I almost landed in a pile of what 'Tracey' calls Ponyta manure – but I get caught by who? Gary Oak. And what does Gary Oak _do_? He puts his friggin' HAND UP MY SKIRT! UP MY SKIRT!!" **she repeated. There was silence, as the three other pairs of female eyes turned to Gary. He sweatdropped again. 

**"Erm gotta go! Muck out some, um, Swinub or something. Yeah. Yeah, bye er, ladies!" **Gary disappeared within seconds. 

**"Pervert…" **Karlie murmured, crossing her arms across her chest disapprovingly. 

**"Riny…Kaz…" **murmured Rachel, in a teary voice. **"W-why are we in the Pokémon world? I-I thought I'd never say this but-but I wanna go home…" **Erin and Misty pulled the younger girl into a cuddle, whilst Karlie congratulated Tracey on 'being brave'. Erin noticed with slight distaste that Rachel, a year younger than her, was the same height – maybe even half an inch taller. Rachel shuddered suddenly. 

**"I'm glad he's gone," **she mumbled **"I mean, I know Arrow loves him and all but….ugh," **she shuddered again. Karlie's ears pricked up at Arrow's name. 

**"I don't think so Rachel," **murmured Misty thoughtfully eying Erin carefully. 

**"What do you mean?" **asked Erin nervously. 

**"Nothing," **Misty smiled. **"I just have a feeling that Gary's gonna be involved in our new little adventure."**

**"I don't wanna be in an adventure!" **wailed Rachel. **"I wanna go home! I wanna watch it, not live it!"**

**"Do that for another 6 hours," **smiled Erin, **"and you'll be where I am right now; scarily calm about things." **Rachel smiled back. 

**"Okay, Ash I'll go get that address book for ya," **Misty said, walking towards the stairs. She paused at the foot of them, looking back at Rachel. **"Come on then! I'll introduce you to Mrs Ketchum – she's reading in her room – and I'll get you some nighties, okay?" **Rachel nodded gratefully, and followed the redhead up the stairs. 

**"Rin," **whispered Karlie, urgently. 

**"Wha?"**

**"This is gonna sound totally paranoid but- but if this, this _thing_ that's bringing us here…it seems to be picking off people from our little, well, 'group' of Fanfiction.net authors…"**

**"Which would make Mia…Arrow…the next rhetorical 'target'," **murmured Erin. 

**"Wouldn't she be transported to Gary?" **Karlie asked. Erin shook her head. 

**"Were you transported to Tracey? Nope. Was Rachel transported to Richie? Nope. Do I see my Shingo anywhere at all?? Nope! I don't think it's working that way…"**

**"Well…we need to find out-"**

RING RING RING! RING RING RING! PHONECALL! PHONECALL! 

Ash passed to answer the vidphone, shooting strange looks at the two 'weird girls' who had burst into laughter at the sound of the telephone ring. 

It was Todd. 

**"Man that was totally freaky! Is this some kinda joke Ash?" **he babbled in awe as soon as Ash picked up. 

**"What?" **Ash asked. 

**"How did you know that a babbling girl was gonna fall out of the sky on me?" **Todd asked excitedly. Ash groaned; noooooo not _another_ one… 

**"GET ME OUTTA HEEEEEEEEEEEERE!" **screeched a girl's voice. In the other room, Erin sat bolt upright, turning around rapidly, almost taking Karlie with her. 

**"Mi-" **she began…before stopping, and walking curiously into the study where Ash was on the phone. She stood behind him, and peered into the monitor, before raising her hand to her mouth in silent shock. 

**"Michelle!" **she gasped. 

~*~

_That's it, thought Author. I can't be bothered to wait around for Hope to get her act together. She picked up her biro, and scribbled a few lines of prose onto the page. There, she thought, admiring her work. That will get them there._

~*~ 

**"Erin, calm down. Todd's on his way over; we'll meet up with him tomorrow!" **soothed Brock as the distressed girl flitted around the room, while Delia chased her patiently, holding out a nightgown which Erin completely ignored. Already in nightwear, Misty, Karlie and a calmed-down-Rachel sat expectantly on the sofa. 

**"I finally got a hold of Duplica," **Ash rambled, running excitedly into the room. **"She has a girl too. This actually makes the search harder cos now we know that not only guys may catch them…"**

**"No offence girls, but…why are we 'collecting' them Ash?" **asked Brock. Ash stopped, and shrugged. 

**"I dunno, it just seems like the best thing to do. Anyway, Duplica's traveling down – but she's all the way near Saffron City, so we'll have to be patient. Um, Duplica says the girl has a really dark green pendant, kinda like your hair Trace **(Tracey: O.O;;; ) **and her name is-"**

**"Mia?" **the three authors chorused, expectantly. Ash sweatdropped, and nodded. Karlie sighed. 

**"Erina-chan; Kaz-Ohki, pf14, Arrow, *Hotaru_Firefly*…" **she murmured. **"Who's the next one gonna be?"**

**"Trish?" **Rachel shrugged. Karlie nodded, slowly. 

**"Probably."**

**"Anyway," **spoke up Delia, in a cheerful voice. **"It's very late, I think you should be getting back to the lab now."**

**"Kay," **smiled Tracey, waving a hand in goodbye and faltering as he saw a heartbroken looking girl with glasses gazing at him. **"Um, night girls – nice, nice meeting you! See you tomorrow!"**

**"Richie dear, you're welcome to stay here tonight," **smiled Mrs Ketchum. **"You can sleep in Ash's room upstairs with him and Brock, as Misty and the girls are going to have a little slumber party down here in the sitting room! Goodnight, off to bed with you!" **Delia skipped up the stairs, humming happily. 

Misty and the others glared round at the line of boys who stood behind the couch. 

**"May we help you?" **asked Karlie, grinning. Ash stubbornly folded his arms. 

**"What if we don't _want_ to go upstairs yet – this is _my_ sitting room!" **Erin could feel that Misty was about to explode, and touched her lightly on the arm to silence her. 

**"Okay," **smirked Erin. **"How about we all play Spin the Bottle?" **Richie squealed, and babbled something about being tired, practically pole-vaulting over furniture to the stairs. One down… 

**"Oh look, I'm not in my nightie yet," **said Erin, grinning. Rachel and Misty were in fits of giggles. Karlie looked deep in thought about something. Erin began to fiddle with her dungaree straps, and Ash looked in horror, following much the same tactics as Richie. Two down… 

Returning from the bathroom in her nightie, Erin realised that Brock was still standing there. Well – Brock was Brock. Whatever you'd say to get rid of a normal guy would probably only turn him on. She sighed. Suddenly, Karlie spoke up. 

**"Hey guys, I was just thinking about, you know, necessities. Did any of you happen to bring any tampons?" **There was a sound that resembled a bird being throttled, and suddenly there was a Brock-coloured blur rushing up the stairs. Karlie smirked. **"Women have the power," **she quoted, sticking her tongue out as Rachel slapped her a high-five. 

The girls settled down for the night – two girls on each sofa. 

**"Dammit Misty you have cold feet," **grumbled someone, accompanied by the sound of covers rustling. 

**"Hey Misty…" **came another voice, softly; more recognisable as Erin's due to her soft Irish accent. **"Are you getting a little jealous with all these new girls showing up?" **Karlie, Misty's couch-companion giggled. 

**"She stiffened up! She's jealous!" **she teased in a sing-song voice. 

**"You don't have to worry," **came Rachel's voice, out of the darkness. **"Karlie'll be infatuated with Tracey throughout her life; Riny's obsessed with you and Ash getting together; Michelle, who you'll meet tomorrow…well I _severely_ doubt ASH is her type **(silenced giggle from Riny)**! Oh, and Mia is hopelessly devoted to Gary. _I _on the other hand, think Richie is the sweetest thing ever!" **

Erin and Karlie groaned, throwing pillows in Rachel's general direction. 

**"Well…" **spoke up Misty, suddenly. **"To tell you the truth, I'm more worried about Duplica turning up…" **Misty sounded miserable. Erin thought of Mia's ideal pairing with Duplica and snorted with laughter, drawing attention to herself. She sweatdropped, then almost fell off the couch in fright at this giant teardrop thing appearing on the side of her head. 

The girls' laughter and banter faded into peaceful sleep in the little white cottage in Pallet, under the stars. And under those same stars, on a route south from Cerulean, Duplica and Mia lay sleeping by their campfire. On another route, the other side of Pallet, Michelle was too scared and aggravated to sleep; keeping a watchful eye on Todd as he cleaned his camera lens like any moment he was going to jump at her. 

Todd sighed. It was going to be a loooooooooong trip… 

~*~ 

_Ah good, thought Author. They'll all be together soon. Maybe it was time to start messing with their heads? One more author, she cautioned herself. She was leaving the youngest, the 'special key' till last after all. There was still the adult card to play, before she began injecting the first girl with the dreams._

_Clearing the page as simplistically as if it were wiping a window, Author began her ritual of moans, and kanji writing. She was getting more skilled; it only took a few moments before her will and thoughts began to resonate with the paper._

_"Wisdom," her voice echoed. **"Disbound!"**_

~*~ 

**"Meowth hates slumming in de forest," **grumbled the cat Pokémon, as he sat eating out of a tin of tuna. The lavender haired man glared at him from where he sat underneath a tree, admiring his collection of bottlecaps. 

**"Well this isn't my idea of fun either Meowth!" **he snapped, in his upper-class voice. As her two team mates argued, Jesse blew on her nails, in a bored fashion. Suddenly she stopped, and peered up at the sky. 

**"What in the world is that?" **she mused. 


	4. Getting There

THEME SONG: Taipou:WAIRDO - Type:WILD, Pocket Monsters, fifth ending theme

* * *

Erin's mouth was open in a silent scream. Within a second, Rachel and Karlie had leapt off their couches, awakened by a sharp, burning sensation in their chests. They stared around warily, then their gazes fell mutually onto Erin, who was curled up into a ball, her head resting on her knees, and crying quietly. 

~*~ 

Mia scuffed the dirt with the heel of her trainer as she stalked around the campsite – what had woke her up? Hesitantly, she placed two fingers on her chest, moving her pendant out of the way so she could test the area underneath it. Her skin was cool – which surprised her, as a moment ago, she could have sworn it was burning red-hot. 

~*~ 

Michelle sat on her boulder, picking at the fraying ends of her denim flares, basking in the glow of the sunrise and oh-so-quietly freaking out. First of all she suddenly took a drop through the air, from her bedroom to the arms of some weird kid with a camera; then he makes her sit through a six hour slide show of all his 'best captures on film'; then there was – and she knew this sounded crazy – what looked like a _Murkrow_ on a tree right near her. 

Yup, a Murkrow. A _Pokémon_. Riny would love this, Michelle thought to herself. That stupid bird on the other hand was gonna get it – it had flown off with her friendship bracelet that she had taken off when 'Todd' had made her bathe. Bathe in the river. In a freezing cold, gungey, _publicly accessible_ river. Michelle shuddered. 

Then of course, there was the weird, and annoyingly shaped pendant that had suddenly appeared around her neck. She couldn't get it off of course, that would just be way too easy. Her pendant was a bright, one might even say 'neon' pink in colour; this gave it the delightful effect of looking exotic and expensive and brash and cheap at the same time. 

**"Haven't you slept?" **came Todd's voice, as he appeared. **"Michelle, I'm not going to _rape_ you or anything, will you please chill out?" **Michelle looked down her nose at him. 

**"Well that's exactly what you _would_ say isn't it?" **she snapped. Todd sighed in defeat. 

**"Well it's like, four-thirty in the morning, so I'm going to take some pics of morning active Pokémon-" **Todd stopped as he saw Michelle flinch, and her hand fly up to her chest. **"-What? What's wrong?"**

**"Ow," **breathed Michelle, as she withdrew her fingers from the base of her neck. **"It just felt like my pendant was burning for a second…"**

~*~ 

**"Why the hell am I cooking," **the young woman grumbled as she bent over the small fire in the woodland clearing, desperately trying to get it hot enough to cook a breakfast over. Nearby, piled underneath a tree was a slim, cerise-haired woman; a cream-coloured cat with a large golden charm on its forehead; and a charismatic man with longish lavender hair, who had impressed Trish greatly by managing to catch her from her fall and whip out a red rose at the same time. 

**"We have to get up early tomorrow, er, _Trash_," **Trish mocked the haughty voice of the woman. **"So make sure you've got our breakfast ready by 5am!!" **Finally giving up on the pitiful excuse for a cooking fire, Trish lay back against the rough trunk of a tree, whimpering slightly from the early morning cold. It wasn't fair, she thought to herself. If I was going to be transported to a completely different world, I wish I had been allowed to put proper clothes on… 

It was like straight out of one of her fanfics; one minute she had been typing furiously away at her computer in her nightwear, and the next minute she had been in the arms of who looked suspiciously like James from Team Rocket…in her nightwear. 

Around her neck was now hung a pendant, suspended by a thin gold chain, and with a gem a pale yellow colour; it showed up well against her skin, tanned by an Australian climate. Aimlessly, Trish fiddled with the end of her messy ponytail of long, black hair, before dropping it with a gasp as her pendant burned against her skin. 

~*~ 

**"What do you mean you can't remember?" **asked Ash, trying to sound annoyed, but his voice came out more scared than anything else. 

**"I don't know," **repeated Erin, as Misty stood behind her, nervously twisting Erin's thick hair into a French plait of sorts as she listened. **"The details disappeared as soon as I opened my eyes – but, but, I know it was a warning about something…someone died…"**

**And our pendants burned…" **chorused Karlie and Rachel in matching sober tones. **"It woke us up…" **There was silence for a second. Then it was tactlessly broken. 

**"So why am I here?" **asked Gary, haughtily. 

**"Because we think that this could be something really important, and like it or not Gary, you're a part of this whole thing!" **snapped Misty. 

**"And you're coming with us when we go to meet these other two girls today," **added Tracey. There was another strained silence between the nine teenagers in the room. 

**"Well," **Brock murmured. **"It's about twenty past five. How about, we all get dressed, Rachel and Richie stop staring at each other, Karlie stops staring at Tracey, Tracey goes to the toilet 'cos it's obvious he needs to go, we all have something to eat, then get going!" **Suddenly he was smashed to the floor by a mallet. The same mallet clattered to the kitchen floor, as Rachel gasped. 

**"Oh my God, Brock, I'm so sorry! I-I didn't even know I could do that! Oh!" **Rachel apologised, feeling unnerved with the fact that she _had_ no pocket in her skirt of which to pull a mallet out from.Karlie sniggered to herself as Brock squeaked from his mangled form on the floor. 

~*~ 

**"So…" **said Mia, trying desperately to spark a conversation with the turquoise-bunched girl beside her, whom, up till now, seemed like she'd rather converse with the pink blob she called the Greatest Ditto Of All Time, than with Mia herself. **"Um…have you ever met a photographer called Todd?"**

**"We'll be at the meeting point soon," **murmured Duplica, before falling into the unnerving silence again. Mia sighed. 

~*~ 

Ash and Misty were talking softly to each other as the group moved along the forest trail. Tracey was trying to sketch the three girls, whilst Karlie was attached to him; meanwhile, Richie was trying to stick close to Rachel but felt somehow obligated to stick near Karlie as well. Gary was walking along moodily with his arms folded, and Rachel was staying as far away from him as she could manage. Brock walked a little way behind Erin, feeling the need to protect her in some brotherly manner, but Erin seemed wrapped up in troubled thoughts. 

Suddenly, the peace was shattered as Karlie threw herself down to her knees. 

**"I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" **she wailed. **"STOP THE BACKGROUND MUSIC! I HATE IT I HATE IT!" **Once Erin had been startled out of her thoughts, she immediately heard and recognised the music that had been playing along in the background. She smiled. 

**"Aw, c'mon Karlie – it's only Type:WILD!" **she grinned, as her friend looked a death-glare at her. Rachel smothered a giggle. 

**"We need to keep moving," **murmured Tracey, and Karlie reluctantly got her feet, looking all around her accusingly as if she expected some guy to be sitting on a tree branch with a stereo, pumping out strains of the Japanese Pocket Monsters ending theme. Which Riny just happens to love, and I just happen to _dislike_, Karlie thought to herself. The group walked on in relative silence. 

**"Travelling day by day, competing along the way," **Erin began to sing along with the music under her breath. **"It's my history – no guides are here to tell me where I'm going, my heart, just leads the way…" **Karlie glared at her, warningly. **"The friends I made while travelling, help me to keep, going…" **

**"A Master is what I'm gonna be!" **joined in Ash, making everyone half smile, half wince. **"I'm getting there, but not easily!"**

**"But I can't stop – trying to be what I wanna be!" **joined in Richie with a smile. Everyone, even Karlie laughed, and the mood lightened considerably as everyone but a sweatdropping Gary joined in for the chorus. 

**"And before you know it – Type Wild! Gonna reach my goal – Type Wild! Keep on going – Type Wild! Gonna be strong! Type Wiiiiiild!"**

~*~ 

_Her fingers itched to pick up the biro, to disbound Sincerity…to have the fun begin…but she stopped herself – she wanted to savour the taste of the youngest, the final author being disbound. _

_So Author continued to wait, watching her story write itself in her minds eye. _

~*~ 

Trish ran through the forest, feeling the shrubs and branches against her legs; in 'real-life' her thighs would have been scratched to pieces, but she knew without even looking down that they'd be fine, without a sight of blood. After all, this was either a dream, or she was really in the Pokémon world… 

Her pendant flew up and down, banging against her chest as it descended, but she ignored it. She knew that she had to get away, and had the feeling that she wasn't supposed to be there. Trish trusted her instincts, and had ran (but thoughtfully extinguishing the fire first of course). She stopped, standing completely still, all her senses heightened by her flight. She could hear voices; sounded like kids singing a song. She almost sighed with relief, and headed towards the sound. 

Everyone gasped with shock as a barely dressed woman broke through the bushes on the side of the trail and fell gasping into their view. Ash, Misty and Tracey immediately looked with an expectant dread at Brock, whilst Erin, Karlie and Rachel's force habit took over, and they quickly glanced at the woman's neck, saw the yellow pendant, and exchanged glances. 

Trish looked around and immediately straightened up. Figures I would run in to the main characters of Pokémon while I'm half-naked, she thought to herself. Everyone stared back at her. However, it was a young girl whom she did not recognise from the show who approached her first. 

**"Trish?" **inquired Karlie, of the older girl. Trish nodded, speechlessly. Karlie broke into a grin. **"Karlie," **she began, pointing to herself. **"Erin and Rachel," **she continued, pointing behind her. **"Or you might know us as…" **she said, softly to the frightened looking woman, **"KazOhki, Erina-chan and pf14…" **Trish's eyes opened wide. 

~*~ 

**"So basically you have no idea how we got here, and there's two more authors from Fanfiction.net, who we're gonna meet up with?" **repeated Trish, after stories had been swapped. The nine teens around her nodded in unison. Trish sighed, and rubbed her hands up and down her cold legs as the ten of them sat in a circle on the ground. 

Tracey reached up, and examined her pendant carefully. 

**"Wisdom…and um…Trish…shouldn't that be your nickname?" **he asked. 

**"It is," **Trish answered. **"Short for Patricia…"**

**"Is there anything we can do for you?" **asked Richie, in a worried voice. Trish smiled. 

**"Yes," **she sniffed. **"Trousers would be nice."**

Ash, Richie, Tracey and Gary looked around at each other sweatdropping. Brock began to fumble with his belt. 

**"Anything for you, oh Patricia fair!" **he crooned, as he wrestled to try to get his trousers off. Everyone looked away in alarm. 

**"Hey Rach, can you pull out that mallet again?" **pleaded Ash. Rachel shrugged helplessly. 

**"Allow me!" **yelled Misty, whipping a large mallet out of her back pocket, and putting an end to Brock's…fumbling. 

~*~ 

Mia grinned to herself. A girl around her age had just stopped to ask them for directions, and the sulking 'oh-we-had-to-ask-for-directions-my-ego-is-bruised' boy with her was none other than Todd. Yeah, the stripy shirt and the camera around his neck was a dead giveaway. 

**"Yes that's where we're going," **Duplica answered, in a slightly suspicious voice. **"I don't suppose you're going to meet Ash Ketchum, are you?" **The girl's eyes opened wide. 

**"We're meeting WHO?" **she screeched at the cowering boy behind her. 

**"Er, yeah we are as a matter of fact," **Todd answered Duplica, trying to ignore Michelle. It was then that Mia noticed the bright pink gem around the other girl's neck. 

**"Hey, I'm Mia," **she introduced herself, as Todd and Duplica started talking about Ash. 

**"Michelle," **the other girl answered, with a smile. 

**"Listen, I couldn't help noticing your pendant…" **Mia began. 

**"It's horrible isn't it?" **Michelle groaned. **"I don't know how it got there!" **Michelle was silenced as Mia brought out her matching dark green pendant from underneath her top. 

**"And apparently, there are three other girls with Ash who have these pendants as well," **continued Mia, her voice hushed for some unknown reason. **"And they all just fell out of the sky too – did you?" **Michelle nodded, wordlessly. Suddenly, Todd interrupted them. 

**"Okay you two! Rhapsody Waterfall is just a few minutes walk away! Now you mention it, I can hear it!" **The four of them walked on, in thoughtful silence. 

~*~ 

**"Hey Misty! Remember here?" **laughed Ash, as he dipped his toes in the water of the river; he hadn't been here in a while, what with having that river at the back of Professor Oak's lab for them to use during the summer. Misty looked up at him, frowning slightly under the bright sun. 

**"Yeah!" **she called out as she walked over to join him by the waterside. **"I can picture it as if it were yesterday! My line jerked – and out came a jerk!" **Ash scowled good naturedly. **"A jerk who owes me a bike," **Misty continued, and Ash groaned. 

Four pairs of eyes were watching them. 

**"Awwwwwwwww!" **cooed Rachel and Erin, as Karlie made a disgusted face as she realised that the background music had changed to 'He Drives Me Crazy'. Trish laughed good-naturedly – out of the shade of the trees the weather was pleasantly warm, and she was just glad that Brock had NO excuse to be taking off his trousers any more. 

**"We're here!!" **A cheery voice announced the arrival of a young teenaged girl with turquoise bunches and a Ditto bouncing along behind her as she came running into the clearing. Duplica was followed by Todd, who wandered into the clearing casually, fingering his camera strap. Todd was followed by two girls, practically huddled together in anticipation. 

**"Michelle!" **squealed Erin. In a flash she was on her feet and hugging her slightly taller classmate with force. She finally let go, leaving Michelle looking slightly bemused, and to fall into a hug with Rachel. Erin turned to the other girl, and Karlie walked up behind her. Mia looked them up and down, and grinned. 

**"I can guess – Kaz and Riny?" **The two girls grinned and nodded. **"And Rachel?" **Mia asked, pointing at where Rachel was hugging Michelle. Rachel shot her a thumbs up over Michelle's shoulder. **"Aaaaaaaaand Trish?" **Mia continued as she saw the woman that was approaching, smiling. 

**"Ash," **murmured Gary. **"I have the feeling these girls aren't being picked randomly…"**

~*~ 

**"So…" **began Tracey, sighing, as he looked at the line of five girls sitting in front of him. Gary, Richie, Brock, Todd and Duplica stood behind their relative person; Ash and Misty stood behind Tracey. **"We've got…"**

He looked at Erin, in front of Brock: **"Innocence…"**

Karlie, in front of Richie: **"Passion…"**

Rachel, in front of Gary: **"Soul…"**

Mia, in front of Duplica: **"Hope…"**

Trish, sitting alone: **"Wisdom…"**

Michelle, in front of Todd: **"And Reality…"**

Gary leant over, and whispered something into Rachel's ear, that made her flush with anger, turn around and wallop him in the jaw. 

**"So what now guys?" **Mia asked, quietly, as she helped a dazed Gary up off the floor. 

**"We'll all go back to mine, and figure out what to do," **Ash said, decisively. **"My mom can get Trish some, um, clothes…oh, and there's something I've been meaning to show you girls…"**

Shrugging, the newly united group of fourteen moved towards Pallet Town. 

~*~ 

_Finally…finally it was the time that Author had been waiting for…time to unlock her special key. After all, she thought to herself, it wasn't as interesting if they didn't have sporting chances of survival… _

_Her fingers slightly shaking, Author grabbed the biro off the desk, and cleared the paper. She was a lot better at this now…it should only take a second and then Sincerity would be on her way… _

_"Sincerity…" __she began, moaning louder than she thought her voice could reach. **"Disbound!" **she commanded. The whole desk shuddered, and papers flew around on an unknown force, but Author kept her undivided attention on the kanji of Sincerity that was glowing golden on the paper in front of her._

~*~ 

Michelle could hear it before anyone else could. She alerted them, and warily, they all began scanning the sky. They shouted as they saw her, the blurred figure of a girl falling through a cloudless sky. They tried to get underneath her so to catch her, but she seemed to move around in the air so that she came to rest above the head of one particular person. 

Tracey picked the young girl out of the sky, and she looked up at him with wide, brown eyes, fingering the violet gem now mysteriously at her neck. 

**"Sincerity…" **Tracey read off the gem. **"Sarah…" **He looked up again into the girl's frightened dark eyes. 

Karlie hissed. 


	5. Moero!

THEME SONG: "Mystic Eyes" - Tenkuu No Escaflowne, ending theme 

* * *

Nine sets of large female eyes peered down into the red and green duffelbag as Ash slowly pulled down the zip. Immediately, Erin and Karlie fell to their knees and pulled the sides of the bag apart to get a better look. 

Sarah, the new arrival, stood apart from the group, looking slightly frantic, and kept both of her hands occupied by fiddling with both her mysterious pendant, and her own beaded necklace that had remained around her neck. From time to time, Tracey sent her a cautious glance, and Karlie could be heard fizzing somewhere in the background. 

Trish stood at the back of the group of girls, having no problem with looking over the tops of their heads. Delia Ketchum had been kind enough to provide her with clothes, and Delia was slender enough so that her own clothes were a perfect fit on Trish. Currently, she was dressed in a vibrant blue knee length skirt and a white blouse. The skirt was livable in, but the frilly white blouse was going _as _soon as possible. 

Carefully, Erin and Karlie extracted eight reasonably sized, but empty backpacks. They were all in the same style, but were in an assortment of colours. Wordlessly, the seven girls picked up the backpack corresponding to their pendant colour. Michelle eyed the remaining eighth backpack. 

**"I guess we still have someone to come…" **she commented, raising her eyebrow as she gazed warily at the crimson red backpack, whilst clutching the neon pink one to her chest with obvious distaste. The others murmured in apprehensive agreement. 

**"Why do we have backpacks?" **asked Rachel, suddenly, flicking a stray strand of blonde hair from her cheek. **"It's not like we have anything to put in them…" **

**"Think again…" **interrupted Misty, as she and Ash delved further into the bag. Mia giggled to herself as she saw to her approval that Todd and Duplica were apart from the group, leaning against the wall by the kitchen and talking in intimate, quiet tones. She nudged Michelle, and the two brunettes shared a conspiratory grin. 

**"Wow! There's a whole load of stuff in here!" **came Ash's muffled excited voice from the far regions of the bag. **"What's this?" **he asked, lifting his head and arm and dangling an object that was obviously foreign to him from the string that was conveniently attached to it. Rachel smiled to herself as she felt Richie, standing beside her, sway slightly. Gary guffawed with laughter from where he was standing between Michelle and Tracey and Brock looked simply horrified. 

**"Ash! Put that down!" **he yelped in terror as he smacked the female utensil out of his younger friend's grip. Ash looked up at Brock in confusion. Brock sweatdropped. **"Maybe we should leave the girls to sort out what belongs to who, hey guys?" **Ash nodded slowly, still not quite understanding why Misty was sniggering into her palm. 

**"Okay! All guys outside!" **ordered Trish, taking pity on Brock's obvious discomfort. The boys shrugged, and five of them walked out, notably followed by the less than sociable Duplica. There was silence in the room for a second as all eyes fell on the daydreaming person _still _standing next to Rachel. 

**"Richie!" **chorused at least four of the girls. 

**"Wa? Oh sorry!" **Richie blushed, more directed at Rachel than anyone else, and practically sprinted out the door. 

Erin got to her feet, as Karlie and Mia had decided to take everything out of the 'Mary Poppins Bag' at it was instantaneously and affectionately now known before sorting the items out. Erin smiled as she saw, in typical anime style, Karlie seemingly being swallowed to the waist by the bag, and Mia calmly pulling her back out by the hem of her teeshirt. Of course, then Karlie realised that she had dropped her glasses _somewhere_ in there, and had to go back in… 

Erin crossed the room, pausing slightly to whisper _'What shall we call this then? Richelshipping?'_ in her innocent tone in the blushing blonde's ear, before walking up to Sarah, who was staring out of the sunny window, clutching the violet backpack to her like a lifejacket. 

**"Escaflowne fan, huh?" **Erin remarked cheerfully, noticing the younger girls beaded necklace. Sarah looked at her in confusion. 

**"What?" **Erin gestured to the necklace. 

**"Your beads. The swirls on the beads read H I T O M I; that's a character from Esca-" **Erin hadn't finished her sentence before Sarah had rushed to the hall mirror. She shrugged and followed her. Having dropped the backpack to her feet, Sarah was now staring at the reflected letters in her necklace in disbelief. 

**"It shouldn't have letters on it… I'm sure they never had before…" **she fussed, still in the 'I-don't-believe-this-I'm-in-the-Pokémon-world-aaaaaah' mode. Erin and Karlie, having spent almost four days in the Pokémon world now, were way over this stage. Rachel was over it too, and Mia seemed to have been totally unaffected by the change over to being a part of a favourite television show. 

Michelle had been hit hard by the mode, and even though she had been here for about 2 days, she was still rather inclined to think she was dreaming, or even a rather elaborate joke that someone was putting on. Trish had been affected by a difference crisis; she felt… responsible. Not for what was happening to these FanFiction.net authors, but… responsible for their safeties. And for the safety of Ash and the others as well. She was about ten years older than any of them, Delia exempt, and was more worried with the practical problem of how to get home than concerned about how they got here. 

However, that WASN'T going to stop her from having some fun! She was going to ask Ash if he would give her the phone numbers of Danny, the Naval Island GymLeader or even Drake, the Leader of the Orange Crew himself, which was more unlikely however. She, Riny and Rachel had plans to prank phone-call _quite_ a few people. 

**"Okay you lot!" **yelled Karlie, and instantly, the other five were lined up near to where she, Mia and Misty had been sorting through the bag. Karlie grinned at her power in spite of herself. 

**"Okay first up," **began Misty, gesturing towards a pile to the left of her, **"is what appears to be a supply of clean underwear." **The five girls who were standing up sweatdropped, which by now was an occurrence they were familiar with. But what they weren't expecting was for their faces to go flat around the chin and for their eyes to turn to dots. They all gasped in shock, returning to normal instantly. 

**"We did that five minutes ago," **chanted Mia and Karlie, with matching mischievous grins. 

**"Oh, it appears that we're still expected to continue our fics whilst on our little vacation…" **commented Trish with obvious distaste as she noted the eight matching jotter pads, complete with average looking fountain pens. Suddenly, there was an excited squeal and Erin skidded to her knees, bumping Mia unceremoniously out of the way as she scooped a tattered looking teddy-bear up in her arms and fell into a series of contented coos. 

Mia blinked as she turned herself the right way up again. 

**"I'mmmmmmm…guessing that's hers…" **she muttered. Erin abruptly looked away from the bear cradled in the cross of her arms and swept the floor with her gaze as if she was expecting something else to be there, and her eyes fell, unhappily as she didn't see what she was searching for. 

Soon, the seven girls had packed their bags, each having a notepad, necessities, the pad and pen, a comfort item, a personal CD player or walkman, and now sat staring at the four mysterious bundles left on the floor. Misty on the other hand was completely fascinated with Erin's MP3 player, and was blissfully listening to 'Only One' from CardCaptor Sakura, sighing happily as she seemed to be able to understand the Japanese words of the love song perfectly. 

**"You people have video-phones and you're obsessed with an MP3 player!" **Michelle screeched in disbelief, pacing around the room in an irritated way. 

**"What are those?" **Sarah asked carefully, nudging one of the tightly wrapped bundles with her toe cautiously. Rachel picked it up in her hands; it was deceptively light. She ran her hands over the pink and white canvas, and then tugged on a thick piece of string protruding from the folds. 

There was a short sharp sound like a vacuum as the canvas exploded into life. Rachel squealed in shock as the bundle seemed to magically transform into a tent that landed gracefully on top of her. 

**"I guess someone thinks we're doing some traveling," **murmured Karlie, sniggering to herself as she saw Erin try to pull Rachel out from underneath, but only succeeding in falling backwards herself. 

**"Hey! They're colour-coded; guess me and you are bunking up together Michelle!" **Rachel smiled, struggling underneath the tent. Michelle shot her a lazy thumbs up from where she was half dozing in a chair nearby – her anxious walk around the living room having totally tired her out. 

**"Me and Sarah…" **noted Mia, seeing that another bundle was green and purple. 

**"Me and Mysterious Person Number Eight Who Will Have A Red Pendant," **chanted Trish, spotting the yellow and red bundle. Karlie eyed the remaining bundle with distaste. 

**"Heh, bad luck Kaz! You've got Ms Fidget!" **snickered Michelle, earning a couch cushion in the face from a glaring Erin. 

**"What dya mean 'fidget'?" **asked Karlie in alarm. Michelle grinned. 

**"She never shuts up, mumbling and singing in her sleep, and she trashes around like she's fighting someone or something – oh, and if you so much as _touch_ her hair or her feet she goes ballistic." **Karlie sweatdropped. 

**"I talk in my sleep and stuff too…" **she murmured slowly. Trish laughed as she tugged another cord now visible on the constructed tent which made it shrink down with a dissatisfying whistling sound into its bundle form. 

**"That's going to be a very noisy te-" **she stopped mid word as a yawn coursed through her body. Misty looked around in alarm as the seven authors all yawned unanimously. 

**"Jeez, do all girls yawn at the same time on your world?" **she asked. 

The girls looked around at each other warily. 

~*~ 

_Author thrashed around in her bed as she attempted to sleep. _

_Those pendants… what was going on with those pendants? _

_She had fashioned them as a way of keeping things orderly in her story; so, as Mia had said, she could colour-code their belongings. But these pendants… they seemed to hold way more power and influence than they should. _

_And why had her story, her perfect story, why had it made up a new character? Who was the author with the crimson pendant? If Author didn't know, then who would? _

_Finally, she fell into a restless sleep, but it was deep enough for her not to notice a brief flicker of light, as a thin chain of gold fashioned itself around her neck, and the deep red stone attached to it glowed… _

_The glow took a shadowy form of a woman. She stood alone in the bedroom, staring in wonder at her arm for a few seconds, before walking over to Author's desk. She placed her hand on top of the ordinary looking sheet of A4 paper there. _

_The paper absorbed the glow; once again the room was left empty save for the slumbering figure of Author. _

~*~ 

Ash and Gary surveyed the scene in the room, sweatdropping slightly. Misty was sitting in the middle of the room, with dotted eyes. The seven girls were all asleep, sprawled across each other or across the couches; a few delicately snoring ever-so-slightly. 

Sure enough, both Erin and Karlie were mumbling to themselves; but whereas Karlie looked peaceful, Erin looked troubled as she slept, and her eyebrow kept twitching. Suddenly, her mouth opened wide, and she thrashed out with all her limbs at once. 

She screamed, sending both Michelle and Karlie, who were leaning against her, practically flying across the room. Neither of them stirred. 

~*~ 

Erin was standing in what appeared to be her garden. Opposite her stood a figure, draped in various shades of purple velvet. The robes flowed to her feet, and sported a wide, high collar that obscured all of her face except for large, uncompassionate eyes. 

She had long, wavy hair that flowed almost as long as the dress, and was a deep crimson in colour, with thin, barely noticeable streaks of dark brown. Before Erin could move, a voice came out from behind the collar. 

**"Hello Erin." **The voice immediately struck Erin as familiar; horribly familiar. She had heard that voice many, many times before. She gazed up at the woman with obvious scrutiny. She seemed to falter under the gaze of the short girl, and for the shortest of moments, her blood red eyes flickered dark. She shook her head, and when she reopened her eyes, they were the same hideous colour as before. 

**"Are you the other author?" **Erin asked, carefully. The woman laughed mockingly. 

**"The other author isn't coming," **she snapped. **"There is no one else. My name," **she continued, her eyes twitching slightly, **"is Velve. And I am your sporting chance." **

**"My what?" **asked Erin. 

**"Irrelevant," **she said, flippantly, beginning to pace around Erin in a circle. As she paced, the background of the garden seemed to melt, into nothing but the ghastly red of Velve's eyes. ** I'm here to warn you, no TELL you," **she continued. **"That you're all here to die! You're all going to die! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" **

As the woman's musical laughter echoed around her, Erin fell to her knees, clutching her cool pendant in her burning hand. Velve spun around, laughing and laughing. 

**"And you-" **Velve snapped, coming to a halt in front of the terrified girl, pointing accusingly. **"Are going to burn…" **She erupted into screeching, hideous laughter again. **"MOERO, MOERO!" **she practically cackled. 

Erin wrenched open her eyes, her cries hoarse in her throat, but found only cooling darkness; but still Velve's voice found her, as she felt the beginnings of waking up. 

**"Sincerity… don't you understand that?" **she jeered. **"Oh, and watch the others… watch your partners… or they die too… One tip. _Never let your guard down…_" **

~*~ 

Erin felt nothing but relief as she felt light pierce the darkness of her dream, and her eyes flew open to see a worried looking Brock and an angry looking Karlie. 

**"You kicked me across the room!" **she squealed. Erin sat up in alarm, gazing around the sitting room as the others began to stretch and rouse. 

**"Hitomi! Iris! Eyes!" **she said in excitement. A freshly awoken Mia stared across at Karlie, who shrugged and made a twirling motion with her index finger pointing at her head. **"We're going to die!" **Erin announced, slightly hysterically, summoning the rest of the boys in from the garden, and even Delia stuck her head curiously out of the kitchen as she whisked batter in a bowl. **"We're all going to die!" **

**"Now look at who's being Hitomi," **Karlie murmured, her voice slightly tinged with fear, although she said it sarcastically. Rachel and Mia let out nervous giggles. Brock approached the frantic girl, as if he wished to calm her, but she latched on to his arm, worthy of Karlie latching on to Tracey. 

**"I have to protect you Brock," **she cried.** "But how can I protect you when I can't even protect myself?" **Brock didn't know what to say for once, so just looked awkwardly at where her tears had stained dots of darker orange onto his teeshirt. Orange like fire. **"I'm going to burn…" **she mumbled, seemingly half out of it. She gazed around at the faces in the room; they all looked worried, but Trish looked absolutely horrified. 

Oh my God, she thought to herself… if we have to protect our partners… I've ran away from Jesse and James! Does that mean they're going to die? 

Tracey looked at the back of Sarah's head, and wondered how she was supposed to protect him, and how he was supposed to protect her. Suddenly, she spoke up, startling everyone in the room out of their silence. Karlie pulled the trembling Erin into an awkward hug before nudging her towards a distraught looking Rachel. 

**"I had a weird dream as well…" **Sarah said, confidently. **"But it wasn't anything about dying…" **She gulped, and continued. **"I think I know where we're supposed to be traveling…"**


	6. Field Of Flowers

**THEME SONG: **'Kaze to Issho Ni' – Pocket Monsters: Myuustu Strikes Back (Walk With the Wind)

* * *

_I was standing in the middle of a field – as far as I could see were blood red flowers, that came up to my waist and leant gently in the breeze. There was a girl in front of me, with dark, dark hair and eyes, and she was looking at me, intently. _

_She slowly bent down, and picked a flower with eight petals, and lightly touched each one of them. She held the stem between her fingers, and slowly pulled one of the petals off and crushed it in her hand. _

_Unexpectedly, she threw the rest of the flower to me, and I caught it in my hands. I felt the thorns on the stem puncture the skin on my palms. _

_"Don't let your guard down," the girl whispered._

Sarah looked around at the group of quietly shocked people after retelling her dream. Tracey stood up slowly. 

**"I think I know what kind of flowers she means. The shuurajou. They grow on an island in the Orange Archipelago,"** he grimaced. 

**"It's a long way away though; it's all the way out near Shamouti."** Ash shuddered, and Tracey shrugged helplessly. **"If that's what we've gotta do though…"**

Tracey reached out his hand to help Sarah up from the sofa, but then recoiled in shock. 

**"What?"** cried Karlie, jumping to his side immediately, and gasping herself as she caught sight of Sarah's outstretched hand. Sarah looked down in puzzlement, and almost fainted at the sight of several bloodied slits in her palm, where the 'imaginary' thorns had been. 

~*~ 

**"Bye Mom! We're all going to the Orange Islands!" **called Ash as he pulled his green backpack up onto his shoulders and grabbed a handful of éclairs out of the bowl on the table. 

**"Okay darling!"** called Delia in her airy voice. **"Be good this time!" **

**"Okay!"** replied Ash bustling his sweatdropping friends out of the little white cottage and trying to keep his handful of sweets from being stolen by Rachel and Misty. **"See ya later!" **

**"Let's get going,"** murmured Todd, grimly. 

**"Don't forget to change your-" **cried Delia, before her voice was cut off by Ash slamming the front door in a hurry. Suddenly, her head stuck out from the kitchen window. **"-you-know-whats, every single day kids!"**

Everyone facevaulted. 

**"Let's get going quickly," **repeated Todd, as he helped Michelle, who was rubbing her chin, off the ground. 

~*~ 

The large group walked soberly onwards, on the shortest possible path through Viridian Forest. Ash was practically dragging Misty, who was seeing Caterpie lurking in every shadow. Erin and Rachel were discussing what would happen if they told Ash about the whole 'Mewtwo' thing, and Mia was setting herself to smiling in a sickly sweet way every time Gary turned around to scowl in her direction; it was working – he was freaked. 

Michelle was busy having an evils match with Duplica – the two did not exactly 'gel'. The battle came to an anticlimactic ending when Duplica tripped over a log. Trish was walking along quietly, not really an active part in the conversation between Brock, Richie and Todd. She fidgeted with her hands in a troubled way, and every so often reached up to adjust the frilly collar she detested. 

Sarah was walking next to Mia, and although she had certainly been troubled that morning, and shy of the rest of the group at first, she had now entered into the conversation with Erin and Rachel, and the topic was now changed to the UK Big Brother 2: Rachel was having withdrawal symptoms as she had 'left' before she had had the chance to discover whether or not Brian had won it. 

Tracey walked along, looking untroubled as usual with his hands in his pockets and a care-free attitude about him. He kept a careful eye on Sarah as he walked, and Karlie trotted along beside him, her arms folded obstinately and her face set in a hurt scowl. Tracey smiled lazily at her, amused at how jealous she got and about how she couldn't seem to care less about Richie. No one had ever shown such a obvious interest in him before, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't flattered – but did she have to be so scary? 

**"Karlie," **he said, softly, **"how are you today?"** A shy smile replaced her scowl. 

**"I'm fine thanks," **she beamed; suddenly, her face clouded over again. **"But shouldn't you be asking Sarah how she is?"** Tracey tutted, and shook his head smiling. 

**"Don't be jealous,"** he said, gently. He was really quite worried, because he was very fond of the loud-mouth girl already. 

**"Here."** He reached into the front pocket of his large orange pack and pulled out a slightly rumpled, light red bandana, and handed it to the girl. Her eyes lit up behind her glasses. 

**"For me?"** she asked, tentatively. 

**"For you,"** he nodded. **"I have 6 others," **he grinned, **"one for every day of the week!"** Karlie sweatdropped as she wrestled it over the top of her head, so that it fit snugly on her forehead. She beamed up at him. 

**"How do I look?"** she asked, striking a pose. 

**"Like me,"** he teased. Karlie grinned; she reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek…millimetres away… 

**"Prepare for trouble!" **

There was a strange noise from Karlie, almost as if she were being strangled. 

**"It's true!"** she fumed. **"They do interrupt at the WORST POSSIBLE TIME!!" **

**"M-make it double…"** continued James as he looked around him in puzzlement. 

**"Huh?"** sounded Jesse, as her deep blue eyes darted from one face to the next. **"Having a party twerp?"**

**"Hey! It's dat girl!" **yelled Meowth, pointing a claw at Trish, who was looking almost weak with relief. 

**"Thank GOD we've found you!" **she cried, confusing Meowth no end. 

**"Hey girl, we're the bad guys," **pouted Jesse, tossing her hair and almost knocking James unconscious. **"You're not supposed to be happy to see us!"**

**"You're not the bad guys this time, Team Rocket,"** interrupted Brock, in his 'wise' voice. **"Sit down, cos we've got something to tell you." **

**"And why should we listen to youse?"** yowled Meowth, menacingly. Brock pointed over his shoulder to Trish, who was blushing lightly and twiddling her fingers in an embarrassed greeting. **"Because without this lovely young lady, you may die."**

~*~ 

After going over the story many times for the benefit of James, it was nearing mid-day, and the group stopped for a picnic lunch. Karlie was boring Michelle to death with the seventy-fifth retelling of 'how she got the bandana', and Erin was complaining that everything Brock had packed, she was allergic too, until Rachel pulled a chocolate dipper out of her backpack and tossed it in her face. Everyone else was engrossed in the fight between Gary and Mia over who would get the last packet of crisps. 

**"You're no gentleman!" **screeched Mia, her emerald eyes flashed in a way not unlike Misty's. 

**"Well that's okay cos you're no lady!"** spat young Oak, in his nasal voice. 

So nobody noticed when Erin gave chase to the piece of litter that was blowing away from their camp-site. 

~*~ 

"_You get on my nerves," spat Author, as she watched the litter lure Erin further and further away from her friends. She grasped the biro in her sweating hand, and carefully printed out her full name onto the paper in front of her: ERINA-LOUISE LAWLESS. _

_"Now to shut off her sound…" Author grinned. "Aaaaaaand…" She positioned her biro at the ready. _

_"Action…" she whispered, with an air of sadistic pleasure. _

~*~ 

Without so much as a warning, the entire area glowed a bright violet colour, startling everyone, even Gary and Mia into silence. Something passed through Sarah like an electric shock, and her eyes flew open: they were all brown, and she looked deeply in a trance. Suddenly, she screamed, and her arm lifted instantaneously so she could point straight outwards with a quivering finger. 

**"Erin!"** she screamed, her pendant glowing even brighter. Rachel whirled around to where Erin had been sitting a second ago, to find nothing but an area of slightly flattened grass. 

**"Riny!"** she screamed along with Sarah, jumping to her feet. Within a second, everyone was running through the surrounding areas, calling out Erin's name in fear. 

~*~ 

Erin felt strange – she couldn't hear anything. Not the occasional cooing of a Pidgey, or even the wind through the tree branches. Everything was deathly silent. She felt the wind however; and it was strangely warm against her cheek. A strong smell niggled in her nostrils, but everything around her was calm and peaceful, so she ignored it. 

In front of her she saw the top she had peeled off the dipper carton, teasing her as it flew around on a wind that was ever changing direction. Erin hated litter, and thought it an extra shame here, as you never saw litter in the Pokémon world. She gave chase again. 

~*~ 

**"She can't have gone this far,"** sobbed a frantic Rachel. **"She was behind me just a few seconds ago! I gave her a dipper carton!"**

**"Sarah are you sure she's in danger?"** asked Todd, skeptically. Sarah nodded. 

**"Maybe she 'had to go',"** smirked Gary, earning a slap round the head from a worried Mia. 

**"After that dream she had…"** Mia murmured, looking around her. **"Still don't know what the HELL is going on, but I have a really bad feeli-"** Suddenly, she stopped, and sniffed the air. Jesse followed suit, sniffing around her delicately. 

**"I smell smoke…" **Jesse announced. 

**"We've gotta find her,"** said Ash, grimly, as he fingered Croconaw's Pokéball apprehensively. 

They could see violent, orange flames licking the tops of the trees now: a forest fire. Michelle squinted her eyes, and could make out the small figure of Erin in the dancing shadows the fire was creating. 

And she was walking straight into the flames. 

**"Erin!"** called Michelle in anguish, choking on the smoke. Erin didn't hear, or if she did she didn't reply. 

**"It's like she can't see the fire," **murmured Tracey. 

In a flash, Brock released Onix and Graveler. Misty released her various arsenal, Tracey released Azumarril, Ash released Croconaw, and swiftly pressed the white button in his Pokédex, switching one of his Pokémon for Kingler. Duplica ordered the six Ditto she sent out to transform into the Blastoise that Richie sent out, and Gary released a Tyranitar and a Lapras. 

Within a split second, all Pokémon went to work: either using various attacks of HydroPump, WaterGun or Surf to quench the flames, or throwing large amounts of dirt on the fire. Those left without Pokémon to command: the authors, Team Rocket and Todd, continued to call Erin above the noise. 

~*~ 

Erin whirled around, but saw nothing but an empty path behind her; a leaf blew across it and twirled entertainingly. That was strange – she could have sworn she heard people calling her name. Suddenly, a searing pain swept up her arm, and she looked down in shock, jumping back a few steps. A large blister was formulating on her arm, and she looked up again in shock: what had burnt her? There was nothing in front of her but a tree. 

She felt flames lick at her leg, and jumped again, but saw nothing. She could still hear the voices, but they sounded so far away. The heat seemed unbearable now – it was all around her. She would have run, but she didn't know where it was coming from. 

Wincing as she was forced to shut her eyes against the constant waves of heat, Erin whimpered slightly. Guess this is what qualifies as letting your guard down. 


	7. The Battle of the Bandana

**THEME SONG: **_Washu no Komori Uta_ (Washu's Lullaby) – Tenchi Muyo! 

* * *

**"What does she think she's doing?" **growled Todd angrily, as the small girl surrounded by flames sank to the ground. 

**"ERIN!" **coughed Mia, with her hands by her mouth. She was the only one still calling, as the thick, curling smoke had infiltrated everyone else's throats. She sprinted to the side, so that she was immediately parallel to the only gap in the tight semi-circle of flames. Gary and Brock joined her a split second afterwards. 

**"Erin, it's okay… walk towards my voice!" **Mia continued to call. Erin raised her head and looked around – it was obvious she couldn't see her real surroundings. Mia frowned. **"We've gotta get closer," **she murmured. 

**"You're crazy," **growled Gary. **"There's no way you're going near those flames!"** The girl completely ignored him, as she cautiously began to walk towards the heart of the fire, wincing as the embers and smoke swept against her in waves. 

**"Erin!" **she called again, now she was closer. **"I can't come any further, it's okay! Just walk towards my voice!" **Erin slowly got to her feet, and took a couple of equally slow steps forward, fingers outstretched hesitantly. When her fingers came in contact with nothing but the burning flames, Erin whimpered and retreated. 

Mia groaned – then a coughing fit overwhelmed her as a sudden malicious breeze blew billows upon billows of smoke into her lungs. From somewhere behind her, Gary growled again, and there was the familiar sound of a Pokéball being maximised. Gary kissed the ball twice, hurriedly. 

**"Swift! Fetch!" **bellowed Gary, pointing in front of him. Mia stared around in puzzlement, and then squeaked and ducked as a huge Pidgeot swooped over her head. With powerful pumping of its wings, the Pidgeot flew above the reach of the hungry blaze, then dived into the inferno, purposefully, its powerful wings sending up clouds of shining embers. 

In a split second, Swift appeared again in the orange-choked sky, holding what looked like a limp rag doll in its talons. The figure shone all over with a faint blue hue, and was flickering in and out, resembling a bad television signal. 

A ferocious wind tore the sky, knocking Mia straight off her feet, and buffeting the large bird type around, dangerously. Sparks darted from Pikachu's cheeks as her exceptional hearing picked heard the wind's undertone: a sharp and wailing scream of anguish that _wasn't_ coming from Erin. An arm of fire with apparent claws stretched from the tip of the flames and latched on to Swift's left wing, making the Pidgeot squawk in pain and surprise. Its talons visibly seized up, and the blue-shimmering figure of Erin was separated from the bird. 

She seemed to hang suspended for a moment, before turning slowly upside down as she started to fall. Swift tried to get underneath to catch her again, but its burnt wing wouldn't flap, and it was taken all its strength to remain still in the air. Grunting, Gary returned it. 

**"Ash! Call out a Flying Pokémon!" **he commanded, and Ash touched one of his Pokéballs lightly. 

**"I've only got Noctowl, and she won't be able to carry Erin!" **

**"We just need something to slow her down!" **

**"Ditto retain their own strength when they transform," **Duplica murmured, through gritted teeth. **"One of mine transformed wouldn't even be able to slow her!" **Ash nodded, and immediately, the evolved form of Hoothoot appeared out of the warm, red light, and headed upwards. 

Noctowl grabbed at Erin's clothing with her sharp talons and hoisted the girl upwards a few centimetres, before dropping her again with an exhausted caw a few metres above Mia's head. 

Mia's first instinct was to catch her free-falling friend, but before the realisation that Erin wasn't as light as she looked hit her, Erin herself did, with an unsettling cracking sound, snapping awake from her faint with a surprised groan. She stopped flashing in and out, and the unearthly blue tinge was sucked into her pendant, leaving her looking relatively normal once more. 

**"Erin darling, I'm glad you're alive… but could you GET OFFA ME!" **exclaimed Mia, her face paling. Erin groaned, and rolled sideways off her friend. 

**"Sorry," **she winced. **"Yeowch I feel bruised all over…"**

**"I know how you feel," **Mia mumbled, as she tried to sit up. **"There is something definitely wrong with my shoulder…" **

Trish was the first person to reach them, and she helped them to their feet. Erin glanced at Mia's shoulder, which she was clutching protectively. Her face was still very white, and even though she made no noise, it was obvious that whatever it was, it was paining her immensely. 

**"You've dislocated your shoulder," **Erin stated, worriedly, swaying woozily herself as she raised herself up on her knees. Jesse and James wandered over; the rest were all trying to put out the remnants of the fire. 

**"That'll heal completely in a few days time," **Jesse remarked, in a bored fashion. Trish shrugged. 

**"We ARE in the Pokémon world…"**

**"Of course," **snapped Jesse. **"How do you think James and I are still alive?"**

Suddenly, they were pummeled by the strange wind again, as the flames were fanned even higher. Erin's eyes grew large and her mouth hung open. 

**"Ohmigod…" **she breathed. **"I can see it now… I was in that?" **Mia nodded wordlessly, as they watched the fire seemingly collapse in on itself. Within a few seconds, there was nothing left but a large patch of soot and ash. Warily, the Trainers recalled their Pokémon. Tracey tossed Azumarril's Pokéball up, and caught it again, minimising it. 

**"Whoever we're playing against in this game, is playing for keeps," **he said grimly, as he watched Michelle fashion a sling for Mia, whilst Erin as screaming at the top of her lungs as Brock applied something to her numerous burns. 

**"This is no game Tracey," **growled Rachel, startling him out of his reverie. **"Erin could have DIED today, and she's burnt all over, Mia is badly injured – AND Team Rocket and Trish are slightly burnt." **The blonde shook her head. **"This isn't a game. This is… this is…"**

**"Scary?" **Richie supplied, quietly. She looked up and gave him a half-smile. 

**"Yes…" **she said softly, still staring Richie in the eyes. **"It's scary."**

Less than five metres away, Sarah stood watching the two of them, at a time where the clique 'lost in each-others eyes' would be perfectly suitable. An almost-unnoticeable violet twinge caught her eye as her pendant sparked without warning. An unexplainable lump formed in Sarah's throat – it felt like she were swallowing a slab of ice. 

Something was wrong. It wasn't over. She knew; just like she knew that Erin was in danger. 

And there seemed something very, very daunting to her about Rachel and Richie, being 'lost-in-each-others-eyes'… 

~*~ 

_The blue biro nib etched its way violently down the old wood, as Author screamed to herself, and dragged her pen down her desk in rage. _

_All that, and nothing to show for it but a buggered-up shoulder and a few burns?_

_She should be **dead**, she should be **gone** and the next stage should be in preparation._

_They were in her story. She called the shots. They only existed for her to manipulate, to control and to kill. _

_Still growling to herself, Author crossed the room, and crawled into her bed, ignoring the blood-red pendant that still hung in place around her neck. She curled up into a ball under the covers, and began to cry softly._

_"But when you're under the covers, the monster can't get you…"_

~*~ 

**"Sarah, are you sure we don't need a look-out?" **Ash asked for the billionth time. And for the billionth time, Sarah impatiently nodded. 

**"But won't we let our guards down when we sleep?" **Rachel asked Sarah, who shrugged. 

**"I just get this really strong feeling… the phrase 'but when you're under the covers, the monster can't get you' keeps coming into my head. After all," **she shrugged, **"I think whoever's doing this has to sleep sometimes as well!" **There was a murmur from the rest of the group. 

**"Someone's going to have one of those dreams tonight," **Erin warned, from where she was holding an ice-pack someone had magically pulled out of their pockets for her on one of her more severe burns. She looked around nervously. **"Don't let them scare you, okay guys?" **Everyone nodded. 

The campsite was a large circle of tents, with the authors in pairs in their colour-coded abodes; Duplica and Misty sharing; Tracey sharing with Gary (as much as Karlie protested); Todd sharing with Richie, and Ash sharing with Brock. Team Rocket argued they were used to sleeping rough, so disappeared up some tree. Choruses of 'goodnight' filled the small clearing, with it taking almost a full ten minutes for each person to wish goodnight to the others. Finally, Michelle put a stop to it by yelling "GOODNIGHT _EVERYBODY_!" 

**"That thing's gonna cut off the blood circulation to your brain," **Erin warned, as she and Karlie settled down in the blue and orange tent, lit only with the light of their two torches and the dying embers of the small campfire outside that had cooked their dinner. 

Karlie lightly touched her bandana, grinning. 

**"Just cos you ain't got one!" **she quipped as she lay down on the pre-made bed in the orange half of the tent. Erin made a face and rolled her eyes. 

**"Too late, it already has. _Why_ would I want one again Karlie?" **she asked. Karlie shrugged, turning off her torch with a click. 

**"Dunno. Hmmm… anyway, oyasumi!" **Erin switched her torch as well. 

**"Oyasumi," **she yawned, laying down gingerly. 

Smiling to herself, Karlie closed her eyes, eagerly awaiting _yumes-de-Kenji_, when a shuffling sound from the other side of the tent made her eyes snap open. 

**"What is it?" **she whispered to her tossing-and-turning companion. **"Is it hard to lie on those burns?"**

**"No," **Erin murmured. **"In fact I can barely feel them. They're like carpet burns now."**

**"Then why on Earth do you keep moving around?" **Karlie asked irritably. There was a small silence from the other side. **"Rin?"**

**"I can't get to sleep without… without… um…"**

**"Without what?"**

**"Kaz can I borrow the bandana?"**

**"Wha? NO!" **Karlie exclaimed immediately, raising her hands to her head protectively. 

**"Aw c'mon, I just need to hold it… I need to like, have a bit of... fabric... just in my hand, you know?"**

**"Um, WHY?!" **She was answered by yet more silence. **"ERIN?!"**

**"Please?" **

**"Not until you tell me why godammit!"**

**"…"**

**"That does it," **snapped Karlie, as she crawled across the short distance to Erin's side, and grabbed her tinkling-noised teddy-bear. **"Tell me why or Lucy-Bear gets it!" **Erin gasped. 

**"You fiend! You wouldn't!"**

**"I would."**

**"You _wouldn't_!"**

**"Oh yes, I would," **smirked Karlie in the darkness. Growling, Erin attempted to reach for Karlie's own bear, but only succeeded in whacking her head against something. 

The supporting pole of the tent. 

The teddies forgotten, the two girls yelped and clutched each other as the yards of canvas collapsed all around them, with a breezy, flopping motion. The breeze from this alerted Trish, who was alone in the tent immediately parallel. Sleepily, she stuck her dark-haired head out of the flap, and sighed as she saw Karlie's disheveled, bandana-less head appear from underneath the subsided tent opposite, and could hear Erin whimpering about having the torches sticking in her back. 

A few minutes later, Trish was trying to get to sleep with her pillow over her head, as Karlie and Erin squabbled in the red half of her tent about who was taking more than their fair share of the red blanket. 

But in one of the other tents, someone was dreaming. 

They were dreaming, but it wasn't a very strange dream. 

They were falling – free-falling through the sky, skimming the side of a rocky cliff, and feeling each and every sharp edged stone dig deeply into their skin. 

No, it wasn't a very unusual dream – everyone has dreams when they feel as if they're falling. The kind where they always wake up before they land. 

But this person wasn't going to be so lucky. 


	8. Slap Slap Silence

**THEME SONG: **_Oh Starry Night – Raye – [The Sailor Moon TV soundtrack]_

* * *

**"Someone wake them up," **frowned Jesse through gulps of luke-warm porridge. 

**"It's no wonder they're bloody tired," **yawned Trish, **"I am as well! Erin tossed and turned _all night long_." **

**"What happened with their tent anyway?" **Michelle asked curiously. 

**"Ugh, you _don't_ wanna know!" **answered Trish, her gaze wandering over to Tracey, who was sitting across from an exceptionally cheerful Richie, gazing into his lumpy porridge, as if he were waiting for it to magically turn to water and reflect the future or something. What made Trish feel most uneasy though, was the fact that he looked terrible. 

Like he hadn't slept. 

Like he had been having bad dreams. 

Trish involuntarily gasped, and dropped her spoon into her bowl, splashing Mia with little dots of sloppy oats. Tracey looked up, startled, and his dark green eyes met with Trish's equally dark ones. He looked edgy; Trish's eyes narrowed. 

**"Well I'm glad that none of us had one of those _dreams_ last night…" **she said, airily, still watch Tracey closely. He flinched slightly. 

**"Yeah, me too!" **piped Richie, happily, from where he was in the midst of what appeared to be a 'delightful' conversation about favoured flowers with a practically beaming Rachel. 

**"I'm gonna go wake Karlie and Erin up," **he mumbled, climbing to his feet, and heading off towards the yellow and red tent, grinning half-heartedly at Gary and James, who were erecting the blue and orange tent once more – so they could find the cord that packed it all up again. 

**"Mia…" **murmured Trish, and looked up when she received no response from the younger girl. **"Mia? Are you staring at Gary? MARIA!?" **

**"Wa? Oh, sorry Trish," **Mia grinned. **"He's a prat… but he has his top off after all!" **Trish rolled her eyes. 

All conversations around the morning campfire ceased as Erin staggered out of the tent – holding upon her head hair that looked like it weighed more than her body. 

**"WAAA IT'S A WALKING HAIRBALL!" **sniggered Ash, ignoring the tired death-glare sent his way. 

**"Yeah, I should have warned you…" **smiled Michelle, as she rummaged around in her pink backpack for a hairbrush. **"Erin's hair expands during the night."**

Tracey re-appeared then, with Karlie hanging off his arm, rabbiting on about his sketches. Tracey was smiling at her in a slightly bemused, but fond way, and Trish put away her theory – for now. 

~*~ 

_This time, there will be no mistakes. _

_What are the ingredients for the Perfect Murder?_

_Miasmic mist, a starry sky, a loved one –_

_And a cliff._

_Oh yes, he was as _good as dead. 

~*~ 

**"Well, that was a bloody uneventful day,"** scorned Gary, as he crossed his arms and leaned back. 

**"We should consider ourselves lucky after yesterday," **Mia growled in answer, moving to the left so Gary fell on the ground. **"And DON'T lean on me."**

**"G-guys?" **stammered Tracey, poking at the fire with a stick and looking around at all the sleepy, orange-tinted faces. **"Do you think it's such a good idea that we camp near a cliff?"**

**"It's far enough away Trace," **comforted Brock, curiously. **"And besides, the cliff stretches on for miles – if we wanted to get away from it, we'd be going back on ourselves."**

**"Yeah – don't worry, cos tomorrow we'll be in Vermillion" **murmured Misty, stroking the dozing Pikachu gently. 

**"Hey, where's Rach?" **asked Michelle, suddenly, sitting up on her elbows slightly. 

**"She went off to draw something," **answered Erin, trying to sound airy, but failing miserably as worry seeped from each and every word. 

**"Okay ladies, tents are up," **sounded Brock, entering the circle dusting off his hands in a manly fashion. 

**"Good," **murmured Karlie, staggering slightly to her feet. **"I'm gonna crash – I don't feel so good… night everyone! Rin, don't make too much noise when you go to bed please." **Erin nodded, and everyone warily bid goodnight to Karlie as she walked slowly to the cyan and amber tent, touching her throbbing temple slightly, and slipping off her glasses. 

Maybe I'm being paranoid, thought Trish, but we're not exactly in a position to NOT be worried… 

Mia looked around slowly, and wiped her hands on her thighs decisively as she stood up. 

**"I'm gonna go into the tent too Sarah," **she told her 'room-mate', clutching the dark green jotter pad and fountain pen. **"I feel... somewhat inspired," **she grinned. 

And with half the gang in tents, and the other half lounging lazily around the warm and cheerful fire; and with the only two people who would have really noticed his absence – Rachel and Karlie – gone as well… Richie resolutely slipped away. Of his own accord. 

~*~ 

You've got to learn not to be so bashful, Richie scolded himself sternly, as he watched Rachel. From a bush. At a safe distance of oh, say, 15 metres. I mean, you're a boy, and she's a girl… 

Well, she's not JUST a girl – she's the nicest and most beautiful girl you've EVER met in your ENTIRE life. 

No pressure. 

~*~ 

Tracey sat, staring at the fire, worriedly. He'd just noticed that Richie was gone. 

What did he think he was playing at? Richie KNEW they were near a cliff; he KNEW the weird situation they were in – and he KNEW that he had had a dream about falling last night… 

Tracey scowled as he prodded a semi-black, semi-orange piece of kindle. Richie had begged – made him PROMISE not to tell anyone that he had been the one to have a foreseeing dream. 

He didn't want to make Rachel, Karlie or anyone else worry. 

I can take care of myself, Richie had laughed. It was probably nothing anyway – a run-of-the-mill dream. I don't want everyone obsessed with protecting me, because that will produce the perfect opportunity to attack one of the girls, won't it? 

…will it? 

~*~ 

**"It's a- it's a- it's a –" **stammered Richie, holding the small pinkish flower straight outwards like some kind of army salute. Rachel smiled, and gently placed the greyish white jotter set she had been doodling in on a nearby rock. 

**"It's a water-lily," **she filled in, delicately smelling it. 

**"Yeah – you said you liked lilies… and I couldn't find an actual lily… and there's a little pond over there so…" **

_Shut up shut up you're blabbering! _Richie's mind reprimanded in horror. Rachel smiled sweetly. _God… is it just me or are all her movements suddenly – somehow – more… alluring?_

I hope these 'alluring motions' Trish taught me are working, Rach thought at the same time. 

**"Thank you Richie, that was very sweet," **she twittered, as she sat cross-legged on the soft grass, and patted next to her as an invitation for him to sit with her. He did. 

~*~ 

Erin held up a small riceball in her hand, and sighed. 

**"Okay Brock, one more time. What. Is. This?"**

**"It's a jelly-filled donut," **came his assured response. Erin's fingers tightened on the food item. 

**"No. No. NO. Mochi. YOU COOKED IT!"**

**"I'm sorry! This is strange and unusual!"**

**"Okay, one more time: what is this?**

**"Donut."**

**"ARG!" **Losing patience rapidly, Erin shoved the riceball into the nearby gaping mouth of James, stopping his incessant snoring. James spluttered and sat up, abruptly. 

**"Oooooo donut!" **he squealed, tucking in, regardless to Erin's protesting screams of annoyance. 

~*~ 

Richard Hiroshi Dervan_, read the words on the coppery piece of paper._

You're dead_, read the callous smile on Author's lips._

_~*~_

**"Aw you lot are boring," **complained Gary, as he stood up and began to make his way over to where he shared a tent with Todd. He ran his fingers through his russet spikes, and managed to trip over Sarah, who was lazily lounging against the tree watching a Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament between Jesse and Trish. 

Yelping, he dived head first through the flap of the nearest tent. 

The green and purple tent. 

Everyone's eyes immediately widened through the following silence. A silence that was followed with a gulping intake of breath, and Gary staggering out, clutching at his stomach. Mia appeared at the flap, wearing her teeshirt and a pair of boxer-shorts. Everyone turned to her for explanation. 

**"He er, _tried_ to kiss me," **she shrugged. 

**"I did not! I just landed on you!" **Gary squeaked, blushing furiously. **"Talk about illusions of grandeur! Ha! And those are MY boxers! Give them back!"**

**"What NOW?" **Mia asked, incredulously. 

**"Yes now!"**

**"No now!" **cried Trish in horror, jumping up to take the seemingly absent mother-role. **"Mia, don't take off your underwear! Gary! For lack of a better phrase – GO TO BED!"**

**"In YOUR tent!" **Erin called after him. 

**"And the rest of you! No kissing!" **Trish scolded. **"Unless it involves me and Drake or Danny," **she grinned. **"Or both…"**

**"And men!" **Mia stuck a dramatic pose as she was about to re-enter her tent. **"Watch your underwear!" **she teased. 

~*~ 

**"So," **smiled Rachel, desperate to strike up a conversation as the two of them sat on the grass in a small clearing, near to the main campsite. 

**"So," **Richie repeated, smiling back at her, but completely unable to think of anything decent to say. Rachel sighed as she hoisted herself to her feet, and began brushing blades of grass off the back of her calves. 

And standing above Richie in a short grey skirt, gave him the opportunity for the perfect peek… 

Richie shot to his feet like he'd been electrocuted, and Rachel looked at him in puzzlement, and he sweatdropped. 

_Okay, you really like this girl, tell her,_ came that annoying voice again. _What's the worse that could happen?_

She could HEAR me. 

Rachel's really… really nice though, and if she doesn't feel the… same way, she'll understand… 

But I WANT her to feel the same way. That's the problem. 

And tapping into a courage inside he either never knew he had, or normally had reserved for Elite Pokémon battles and future marriage proposals, Richie grabbed Rachel's arm. 

Rachel's breath caught in her throat – this was it! She could tell by his face! He was going to take her in his arms, and tell her that he was truly, madly and deeply in love with her! 

Richie smiled sheepishly, and leant gently forwards… 

Or… just kiss me, Rachel thought, as his lips brushed gently across hers. Subconsciously rolling her eyes, Rachel reached her arms behind his head and pushed him closer, until the kiss told her very plainly, everything that she wanted to know. 

When they pulled apart, Richie looked as if he were about to erupt – his face fed due to both lack of oxygen and embarrassment. Rachel wrinkled her nose in a cute smile, as she waited for him to either kiss her again or to faint. 

**"Okay, Rach, er, el, I've gotta get back to camp now!" **Richie rambled, horrified at what he'd just done. Rachel smiled, taking it as a compliment that she 'messed with his head' so. Richie untangled his arms from her waist, and handed her back the water-lily that had fallen discarded to the floor during the kiss. **"See you later," **he smiled, as he set off at a very fast pace into the trees. 

Rachel smiled secretly to herself, as she lightly stroked the petals. But her fingers came to a horror-struck halt, as she realised something. 

**"Richie!" **she called into nothing but the starry sky. **"Camp's the other way! You're running towards the-"**

~*~ 

Richie's feet slapped against the mud, as he sometimes made half hearted jumps over pieces of rotting trees during his frantic flight through the forest. 

Stupid. Idiot. _Baka_, he thought. WHY did you leave? 

Go back and kiss her again you fool – that was the best moment of your life! 

Richie clenched his eyes shut as if he wanted to get rid of the voices, that were part of this giant testosterone headache pounding in his head and every vein. 

Slap, slap, slap, went his feet. And then there was silence. 

~*~

A scream of anguish, and the entire campsite jumped up, immediately alerted. An amber beam of light seemingly came ripping through the top of Karlie and Erin's tent, as it became apparent that Karlie was screaming with pain. 

In a split second, everyone piled in or outside the tiny tent. Karlie was lying on her bed with her back severely arched – she shone all over with a warm orange glow, and an ever-thickening beam of light was shooting from her pendant. 

**"Karlie! Karlie what is it?" **Erin called frantically, latching on to her friend's seized up arm. 

**"R-richie, **Karlie managed to labour, through gasps of the body-wrenching agony that was coursing through her. 

Her punishment for not protecting. 

~*~ 

It took them two minutes to find Rachel. 

She was kneeling in the middle of a picturesque forest clearing, sobbing into her arms that she had folded across her chest. A discarded pink-tinted water-lily blossom lay just a few inches away from her. 

But she was all alone, save for the romantically starry night's sky, and the wind that seemed to be laughing victoriously, as it ruffled the pages of her jotter pad. 

And it took them two hours to find Richie's body.


	9. Black Inside

**THEME SONG: **Midnight Blue – _Slayers the Motion Picture_

* * *

Michelle scrunched up her eyes against the plaintive moans that seemed to echo from the other side of the tent. It seemed as if she were sleeping in a tent with a giant, white cocoon, perpetually crying, crying, crying. 

What do you say when a cartoon character dies? _Did it hurt? Did he bleed? Was he ever even real?_ Michelle lightly tapped the shiny pink gem that proclaimed her to be Reality – but it didn't magic up any answers. And on the light and white side of the tent, Rachel still lay, choking on her own inconsolable sobs. 

Inconsolable. Whenever anyone came near her, Rachel just screamed louder, begging to be left alone. Semi-traumatised. Semi-heartbroken? But I'm the one who has to sleep with it, thought Michelle, semi-bitterly. 

Yeah sure, they had all been shaken, and there had been a few tears from those the closest to Richie, but Rach had done nothing but cry, and mumble something about a lily. It just seemed to bring everything home for them – Erin being targeted had been one thing – she had survived it. And whilst they had been battling the immense fire, and trying to save her, the rush of adrenalin had covered up most of the fear, until it had been replaced by the happiness and gratitude that nobody had been hurt. 

But now, as Michelle thought about it carefully, she felt an uneasy stab in her stomach. This was no children's cartoon anymore – someone, seeming real to her at least, had died. And Erin, the girl she had known for years, who she saw everyday at school – could so easily be gone too. 

And Mia, as she had gotten far too close to the flames. But Richie… was… gone. Gone. Final. The end. Game Over. But, Michelle thought, shivering underneath the warm pink blanket, this wasn't like a Pokémon Gameboy game, where you could just curse under your breath and restart from Karen when Lance's Aerodactyl creams you. 

Everything could be a potential weapon – an aid in your ultimate downfall. Whatever was doing this, obviously had a great deal of control. Would Michelle unwittingly start a chain of events that would kill her just by doing something as simple as having toast for breakfast? And when would they come for her? There was no apparent order yet… would her turn come tomorrow? Next week? Next month? Never? Now? 

We mustn't trust ANYONE outside the group. 

Michelle didn't even notice that she fell asleep, fearing for her life. 

~*~ 

_One of a kind… _

_Two of a kind…_

~*~ 

Rachel staggered out of the pink and white flap, and into the eerily stillness of the campsite. The only noises were her compressed sobs, the occasional crackling from the dead fire, and the sounds of life from the cyan and amber tent; Karlie was groaning and Erin was talking to her in hushed tones. 

Rachel winched as she heard Karlie vomit again, and without thinking, began to make her way to the tent; to see her _friends._

Something shot through her. She stood, staring with hard eyes at the orange and blue tent, her face bronzed with dancing colours from the still glowing kindling. 

_No. Karlie was never your friend. All she cared about was Tracey, and herself, and Tracey and her. If she had cared about you in the slightest, she would have DONE her damn job and protected him for you. She let you down, she let Richie down, she let the whole damn group down._

Fighting back another hoarse cry, Rachel ran towards the trees, following Richie's footsteps earlier in the evening, when he had made the drastic mistake of leaving the others to come to find her. She didn't halt when she felt things that would normally have repulsed her brush against her legs, or when she arrived in the clearing. 

She kept running, eyes and fists clenched shut in pain. Suddenly, she realised what she was doing, and her eyes flew open in shock. Had Richie's eyes been closed? Is that how he hadn't seen the rocky precipice that was looming up in front of her? There were so many questions: why hadn't he used his Pokémon? Why had he run towards the cliff anyway? Why him? Why wasn't he alive godammit? 

Jesse and James had survived much worse than falling off a mountain, and hell, Ash was always sliding down the bloody things. Why did Richie have to die from falling down a cliff? 

Rachel slowed, then stopped as she ran her hands over her short blonde hair, and looked out at the ironically pleasant view from the cliff-top. 

**"Why…" **she murmured sadly, sniffing. 

**"Who would you rather have died instead?" **inquired a voice from behind her, and Rachel skidded backwards from the cliff on instinct. A woman stood behind her; a woman with long, long crimson hair, and a collar that covered everything but the equally crimson eyes. 

**"Y-you're… are you the woman from Riny's dream?" **Rachel breathed, never taking her eyes off her. Velve arched her eyebrow, and moved to the left, with a swish of the purple, velvet robes. 

**"Would you rather you were dead?" **she continued, ignoring the question. **"Or maybe you wish that 'Riny' was dead? Oh, but I know," **she scoffed, watching Rachel scramble to hold the small white gem of her pendant in her hand. 

**"You wish that Passion was dead, don't you?" **Rachel frowned, but remained silent. **"You can't hide anything from me," **Velve snapped, advancing on Rachel, backing her up further and further against the cliff. 

**"Its not fair," **Rachel protested weakly, blinking back fresh tears, and helpless as Velve pried her fingers away from her pendant with gloved fingers. 

**"Someone had to die," **Velve growled. **"Sooner or later you'll all be dead. But it's not your turn yet… I think you know whose turn it is next…" **she leered down at the terrified girl. 

**"I don't know what you mean! Leave me alone!" **she began to struggle, but stopped in horror as her foot slipped off the cliff. Velve stared at her for a minute, before tugging gently on her pendant and returning her to the ground. 

**"This isn't your precious kiddy-cartoon anymore, Soul," **Velve spat at her. **"See, the people who write that never want the characters to die. But guess what? There's a new writer. And she's quite the opposite; she wants _everyone _to die."**

**"Why?" **Rachel continued to stand defiant, despite the fact that she had never been so frightened in her life. 

**"Too bad, Soul…" **Velve sneered, as she tightened her grip on Rachel's pendant, sending what felt like an electric shock coursing through her. **"Looks like you've gone-" **Rachel stared upwards, stricken in pain as Velve began to fade. **"-black."**

Alone on the cliff once more, Rachel fell to her knees, clutching her pendant as she breathed heavily. _Looks like you've gone black. _Rachel shivered, and tried to stand up, but her legs wobbled in protest. Groaning, she released the pendant from her hold, and gasped. 

Where had once hung the pretty, clear stone with the nickname Rach and the kanji of Soul on it, hung a pure black gem. 

**"No…" **she whispered, hoarsely, as the black gem began to glow with a dark aura. It surrounded her – poured in through her mouth, her nose and her ears. She could feel it, like a thick smoke infiltrating every part of her body. **"Karlie…" **she sobbed, as she felt the heaviness close in on her heart, and she closed her eyes in pain. 

The pendant stopped its unearthly glow. She slumped forwards, and clawed the ground with her fingernails. **"Karlie…" **she repeated, as she tucked the black necklace so it was hidden underneath her top. **"It's your turn. You have to make up for your mistakes," **she muttered, opening her eyes. 

And even in the limited starlight, it would have been plain to anybody unfortunate enough to be watching, that Rachel's normally doe blue eyes, now shone as deep a crimson as Velve's. 

~*~ 

Breakfast was a rather quiet affair the next morning, with the newly reduced group of sixteen. Nobody could resist keeping maternal and paternal eyes on Rachel, who seemed to be coping a lot better than the night before, as she ate her sausage and chatted with Ash about the what the accommodation in the Indigo Village was like. Having Rachel be so light, improved the mood slightly. 

**"Sarah!" **yelled Duplica, with her mouth full. **"Wake up or all the breakfast will be gone!" **Duplica did a quick head count. **"Who are we missing?" **she asked, in puzzlement. Trish gave her a 'shut-up' glare, but Erin spoke up hurriedly. 

**"Kaz. She's not hungry…" **Everyone turned to look at the orange and blue tent, where Karlie still lay. **"Actually I'm afraid that if I give her anything, it will just make her worse…" **Erin confided quietly. **"She hasn't eaten since yesterday lunch-time, and she's vomited so much there must be nothing left inside her."**

**"Hey guys!" **called Sarah, running into the middle of the circle still pulling her arm through the sleeve of her top. **"I had the BEST dream!" **Everyone stopped and stared at her, wondering who was going to be the first to shake her and scream 'one of us DIED last night'. Sarah ignored the lack of enthusiasm. 

**"It was that girl with the dark hair again!" **There was a murmur of apprehensive excitement from the group, and all gave their attention to Sarah. Except for Rachel… 

_That's Jacqui, _a voice in her head hissed. _Don't listen to anything that comes from Jacqui – she's just trying to confuse and manipulate you. Only listen to me. Let the others believe what they want- it will all be over for them soon anyway. _

**"She told me that she was sorry about what… what happened," **she said hesitantly, with a flicker of a glance to Rachel. **"And she says that she's sure that we'll be able to do something for him... one day...**** when this, when this is all over." **There was silence. 

**"A-are you sure Sarah?" **Tracey asked, hesitantly, and Sarah nodded, beaming to strongly for anyone to feel the other way inclined. There was a sigh of relief around the circle, as people began to stand up. 

**"Okay then!" **yelled Ash, turning his hat around, and holding out his balled up fist. **"The sooner we get to Vermillion, the sooner we get on the St Atlantis! The sooner we get on that boat, the sooner we get to the Orange Islands, and to that field!" **There was a half-hushed cheer, as the group began to collapse the tents, with a new spirit in their hearts and a new found hope. Mia felt it most of all, especially when she looked at how peaceful Rachel seemed to be. 

~*~ 

_Jacqui. You stupid, insolent cow. What do you think you're doing interfering? _

_(I thought we were in this together. All I wanted was a decent and interesting story.) _

_It's what you're getting. Why aren't you satisfied? _

_(They don't deserve to be lied to. They don't deserve to be possessed. They don't deserve to be picked off one by one. They are real people.) _

_But you're confused. This IS what you want, Jacqueline. You're just tired and shocked. Besides, they're not real people. They are characters. Your characters. _

_(My… characters…) _

_They are for you to do with as you please. Do you understand me? _

_(I… I… yes.) _

_That's a good girl._

~*~ 

**"I think I'm gonna throw up again," **whined Karlie, as she slowly made her way down the route. 

**"That's impossible Kaz," **snapped an over-tired Erin. **"You have nothing to throw up!"**

**"Look, the sooner we get to Vermillion Harbour, the sooner she gets to lie down," **soothed Trish, as the group made their way slowly to the back of Vermillion City. 

**"I have a headache…" **Karlie whined again. **"And I wish, I really REALLY wish, that they would just STOP! PLAYING! TYPE! WILD! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" **The soft background music faded away, and Karlie smiled nauseously. **"Thank you," **she muttered.

**"So. Maria…" **

**"Don't call me that."**

**"Got it." **Gary sweatdropped, as the pissed-off auburn brunette strode along side him. **"Um, Mia… about that ah… kiss, thing…"**

**"You call *that* a kiss? That wasn't even a kiss. It was an *attempted* kiss. I got to your gut before you got to my lips," **Mia stated, with a smile twisting her top lip. 

**"Yeah well – you understand it didn't mean anything… right? It was just… hormones… and I was you know, lying on top of you and all… and I.."**

**"Yeah yeah, calm down! I understand," **smirked Mia, folding her arms across her chest. 

**"Good…" **breathed Gary, his face becoming less red. 

The conversation came to an abrupt halt as the redhead in front turned around and waved. 

**"We're here!" **Misty called. **"Everyone get your money out cos there's a lot of us to queue!"**

Ugh, a boat, Duplica shuddered. Of course, she wasn't going to let on that she was just a teeny-bit afraid of the water. Not in front of Todd anyway. 

**"We all have to share the SAME ROOM?" **Jesse yelled, a red stress mark rapidly appearing on her forehead. 

**"Yeah, what's the big deal?" **Tracey shrugged. **"You always sleep near James! It's a big room!" **Jesse made a disgusted sound. 

**"Hey Jesse," **Ash called, frowning slightly. **"We have a problem – we have to put Pikachu and Meowth into Pokéballs."**

**"MEOWTH??" **gasped the cream-coloured Scratch Cat. **"Dere's no way Me-owth is going in one of dem Pokéballs!"**

**"You have to," **interrupted Misty. **"This is a classy cruise-ship – they don't allow loose Pokémon, except on the Pokémon deck."**

**"Well you try to get the stupid cat in," **resigned James, scratching his head. 

**"If I can get Togepi into a ball, I can get Meowth into a ball," **Misty grinned. 

Meanwhile, oblivious to the redhead chasing the cat, the rest of the group were queuing up, next to the small ticket hut to purchase their tickets. Rachel was first; she smiled sweetly at the old man in the ticket booth. He smiled back: with her blonde hair and blue eyes, Rachel could be very charming. 

**"Thank you," **she primped as she tore her ticket from the machine that had processed it, and turned around to face the next person in line; Karlie. 

**"You're next!" **she said, sweetly, before making her way alone up the boarding plank. **"Yeah you're next all right," **she muttered darkly, her eyes flashing over with the deep red, and her black gem bumping up and down softly against her chest. 


	10. Cabin Fever

**THEME SONG: **Aoi Hitomi (Blue Eyes) – _Tenkuu No Escaflowne_

* * *

A warm trickle of blood seeped from the bite-mark in Rachel's bottom lip. She ignored it, and merely bit down harder, almost enjoying the pain, as she listened to them… to Passion, Hope and Innocence – their given names unimportant to her now, as she lay in the darkness, absurdly pretending she was asleep. 

I'm going to make you suffer, she thought vehemently, feeling her black pendant glow with a pleasant heat. Passion… her mind spat. It's going to be slow. And I'm going to make sure, that you know it was me. Me who killed you. 

~*~ 

**"Feeling better Kaz?" **Rachel fussed, shoving a heaped plate from the breakfast buffet table underneath the still-pale Karlie's nose. Karlie declined it politely and wearily, continuing to chew on her one piece of toast that Trish had threatened her into eating. 

All things considered, it hadn't been a bad night – unless you counted Mia's tendency to brutally hug whoever was sleeping to the left of her, which had left Sarah rather bruised. 

The males had been banished to the far end of the room, squashed in a corner, while the females lounged around in comfort. The only way too fit everyone into the reasonably small cabin, was to give Kaz the only bed, push it and all the other furniture up against the wall. And then of course cover the floor with various cushions and bedding. 

**"It's like a giant girl's slumber party!" **Brock had cooed happily, before Michelle had firmly shown him to his corner. 

They had set sail late the previous afternoon, and they still had a good few days at sea to go before they reached Valencia Island (Brock was less than pleased). 

**"Well okay!" **Rachel piped, cheerfully. **"If you need anything Kaz, just call!" **Rachel went to stand up, but Karlie grabbed her hand. Rachel stiffened. 

**"Rach? Can I tell you something?" **Karlie murmured, keeping a careful eye on the only other people in the cabin: Mia, Erin and Gary were having a conversation about why the boat was named _Saint_ Atlantis instead of the SS Atlantis. 

**"It's named after St Atlantis! Duh!" **scoffed Gary, earning an indignant clip around the head from Mia. 

**"Yeah sure Karlie, what is it?" **Rachel asked, trying to keep her voice sounding innocent. 

**"I-I- had one of those dreams last night," **Karlie whispered, dropping her head. **"And I don't know how to tell the others…" **Rachel gave an inaudible snort or annoyance, before falling to her knees beside the bed. 

**"Oh I'm sure it's nothing, Karlie," **she reassured, keeping her tone sincere. **"What was it about?"**

**"It was really… strange…" **Karlie began quietly. **"I don't know what to make of it. We were all in this, boiler room type thing, and I wanted something, and all of you had loads of… whatever it was… and no-one would give it to me…" **Karlie's voice trailed off quietly, and Rachel fidgeted, annoyed. This could ruin everything. If the others knew that Karlie had had a foreseeing dream, they'd never let her out of their sights. 

**"I'm sure it's nothing Kaz," **she repeated, obstinately.** "I don't think you should worry the others-"**

**"Rachel –Richie is dead because he didn't warn us that he had a dream," **Karlie said seriously, wondering why she suddenly felt so on edge. 

_No,_ screamed Rachel's mind. _He's dead because YOU let him die._

**"If he had told me at least, I may have been able to do something…" **Karlie said, quietly. Rachel bit down on her lip again as Karlie looked up at her beseechingly, her eyes huge and scared behind her glasses. 

**"Rach – I'm scared. I mean, really, really frightened." **Rachel felt something warm flicker inside her, but it was gone before it had even properly registered that it had been there. **"But," **Karlie continued, still looking at Rachel with scared but serious eyes. **"If _you_ say that I shouldn't worry the others… then okay. You know best Rach – I'm sure it is nothing… I'm just paranoid – and this fever doesn't help much!"**

Karlie smiled weakly at the younger girl, who smiled edgily back. 

~*~ 

Rachel Griffiths, _she wrote on the top of the paper, doodling a small interpretation of the kanji of Soul next to the name. Slowly and labouredly, she fashioned a flat circular loop around the name. _

_Protection for the Black Soul. For now at least._

~*~ 

**"Hello Karlie," **murmured Tracey, as he knelt down beside the bed Karlie had been confiscated to since their arrival on the boat. **"Can I get you anything?"**

**"Yes! You can get me outta this bed!" **Karlie snapped, thumping her fists down on the cheap duvet. **"I'm going insaaaaaaaaaaaane!" **Tracey smirked, kindly. 

**"I think that's appropriately called Cabin Fever…" **

**"I'm in a cabin," **Karlie grunted, shifting on the bed. **"I have a fever… and about ten million BEDSORES! Get me outta here!"**

**"I think a nice walk around the boat would make Karlie feel a lot better," **interjected Rachel, quietly, staring in concentration at the teenager on the bed. **"I'll take you on a nice little walk Kaz," **she offered, smiling slightly. Karlie grinned, and looked hopefully up at Trish and Brock, with matching disapproving looks. 

**"Puh-lease?" **she begged, and Trish sighed in defeat. 

**"Don't be gone long!" **she instructed, frowning slightly. 

**"Okay, I'll go too," **Tracey shrugged, standing up. 

**"No!" **objected Rachel, quickly. **"I erm, need to have a girly talk with Kaz – you understand." **Tracey shrugged again, and wandered over to join Ash and Todd, amidst a discreet discussion on what do to with Richie's Pokémon. Karlie stared at Rachel strangely. 

**"Maybe you two better not go by yourselves," **interrupted Sarah suddenly, as another bad feeling washed over her. Karlie looked around nervously. 

**"No, it's okay," **she bluffed. **"I trust Rach'll protect me!" **she laughed, earning a giggle from the audience, and a feeling of nausea welling up in Rachel's throat. 

~*~ 

**"Oh it's so good to stand up!" **laughed Karlie, as she attempted a twirl with her arms out-stretched, but halted quickly as her aching head protested. **"So what's up Rach?" **Rachel kept her arms straight by her side and her back hunched slightly as she led the way purposefully down the deserted, white boat corridor. 

**"I want to show you something I found the other day," **she answered, through tight lips. After another minute or so of seemingly urgent walking, she stopped suddenly, in a grungy, crew area. Karlie swallowed deeply, as the rocking motion of the luxury cruise-liner just made her feel worse… I should have brought my medicine with me, she lightly scolded herself. 

**"Okay, close your eyes," **Rachel instructed, without turning around to face Karlie as she readied the heavy bolt on the nearest door. Karlie obeyed, and shivered when she felt Rachel's ice-cold fingers grab her around the waist and firmly lead her into the room. 

Rachel led her into the middle of the room. It was cold, and dank, and smelt of must. Not good for a gal with a fever, thought Karlie disapprovingly. 

**"Can I open my eyes now?" **she asked as she felt Rachel let go of her, and heard her footsteps walking away from her. 

**"Sure," **smirked Rachel, in a tone Karlie had never heard her use before. Karlie opened her eyes curiously, and gasped, whirling around to face the obscenely grinning blonde in anger. 

**"I suppose you think this is funny?" **she growled, gesturing around at the boiler room. **"You KNOW I had a dream telling me I was going to die in a room like this!" **she yelled, ignoring her migraine. 

**"You are," **interrupted Rachel, sounding bored as she fingered the rust of the lock and began to back out of the door. **"Goodbye Passion." **Karlie's eyes opened wide in shock as her vision caught upon both the blackened stone hanging from Rachel's pendant, and the menacing crimson tinge in the blonde girl's eyes that seemed to prove that this wasn't just a sick joke. 

**"Rach-" **she protested, her voice cracking with disbelief. **"You- you can't leave me in here! I'm sick godammit! I need water, and my medicine!" **Rachel ignored her, and proceeded to tug the heavy door closed. Karlie's first instinct was to run for the door, but a mixture of illness and fear had made her legs turn to lead, and it was all she could do to stand there as her friend pulled the door to, blocking out any light in the dank room. 

As Karlie heard the heavy bolt slide into place, her legs gave up and she collapsed to the floor, crying helplessly. 

**"Help?" **she murmured, more to herself than anything else as her fever still ate away at her consciousness. But as she curled into a burning hot ball in the freezing room, and began to fall deeply into the fever, it wasn't for Tracey that she called. Or her mother, or Erin, or Trish. 

She called out for Rachel. 

~*~ 

Rachel stopped her triumphant grinning before entering the cabin, and put on the worried face once more. As she opened the white door, everyone looked up at her. 

**"Where's Kaz?" **Sarah asked, in puzzlement. 

**"Oh it was horrible!" **Rachel began to sob. **"She collapsed! She was so hot!"**

**"What?" **squealed Trish in horror. **"I knew I shouldn't have let her go!"**

**"I took her to the on-board doctor! He took her away! He said she was contagious and that she can't be in contact with any of us until she gets better!" **There were assorted gasps from around the room. 

**"Doesn't he want to examine us then?" **asked Michelle, skeptically and realistically. **"I mean, if we possibly have what she has." **Rachel sweatdropped. 

**"He said he'd be in touch," **she bluffed. Michelle looked at the bedside table where Karlie's orange backpack and her bottle of medicine sat. 

**"Doesn't he want her pills?" **she pressed. **"Shouldn't someone bring her bag to her?**

**"NO!" **Rachel yelled, startling Michelle. **"He said no contact."**

**"Well okay," **said Misty, getting up from where she had been having a game of Rummy with Mia and Erin. **"If that's what the doctor says," **she murmured, with a hint of a sardonic undertone, staring Rachel right in her innocent, blue eyes. 

~*~ 

Karlie Jane Carroll, _wrote Author, underneath the kanji of Soul. Slowly, she drew an arrow from Rachel's name to Karlie's._

_Sayonara._


	11. There is Beauty in the Bellow of the Bla...

**Theme Song: **'Through the Night' - Outlaw Star

* * *

The man stood in the shadows – watching the beautiful woman in the bed as if she were on a television screen. He knew that she knew he was there, and that was all that mattered. It was pathetic; she was a shell of her former glorious self, but even now as she lay quietly on her death bed, gazing up at the sculptured ceiling with her icily condescending eyes, she seemed to wastefully breathe out life itself. 

She had the appearance of a young woman – the age of his sister or younger, but the flowing white tresses of hair and the fact that her body was slowly giving out on her told another story. One ivory skinned hand with pale pink fingernails methodically stroked the head of the Nidoran on the bed-sheets, whilst the other lay limply hanging down at the side of the bed. 

**"Lillith," **rumbled the man, with no emotion evident as his chiseled features highlighted faintly as they moved with speech. **"You should get some sleep." **The woman sighed melodically, and her fingers momentarily ceased pampering the downy hairs that covered the lilac, bony structure of the Poison Pin Pokémon. 

**"Is that you, Lorelei?" **she murmured, her hand delicately flipping upwards onto her pillow, as her brandy coloured eyes flitted around in the darkness. The man grunted in annoyance, and the Nidoran squeaked a high-pitched call and scrambled off the bed in the wake of his irritation. 

**"No," **he answered harshly, his eyes narrowing menacingly as he realised she was even worse than he had thought – if she could not distinguish his voice from that of his younger sister. **"Go to sleep," **he commanded, authority booming from every syllable. The old woman sighed and pouted like a child. 

**"But I'm already having the most wonderful dream…" **she murmured to herself, as she gazed up enraptured at something wonderful, that only she could see. The man in the shadows turned to leave. **"I'm sorry…"** The words from the bed froze him suddenly, before he realised that they weren't directed at him. Lillith's golden brown eyes were closed, and her beautiful features, frighteningly unravaged by time, were contorted up in emotional pain. 

The man scowled to himself as he left the room, and the nursemaid scurried in to replace him. He knew that she was sorry, for everything she'd never done. 

~*~ 

Trish groaned as she stripped the sheets from Karlie's vacant bed, and passed them on to a dutifully folding Brock. 

**"I'm worried about Karlie," **she confessed to the nearest specimen of maturity. **"I just find it hard to believe is all – it was mainly just a fever now… nothing I couldn't handle… plenty of cold water and those tablets and she would have been fine when we arrived. But now… we arrive at Valencia the day after tomorrow-" **Brock flinched. **"Sorry. We arrive at THAT DAMNED PLACE the day after tomorrow, and there's been no word from Kaz or the doctor. What will we do if she's too sick to travel?" **Trish asked, worriedly biting her lip. 

**"I know, we can't just leave her here…" **murmured Brock, as he built the sheets up into a neatly cornered pile. Erin lay draped backwards over the central pile of cushions, taping her front teeth with the cyan blue fountain pen. 

**"This is driving me crazy," **she murmured under her breath. **"Yes, she was sick, but with her medicine she probably would have got a decent amount of strength back by now!" **She sighed in exasperated annoyance, and threw a crumpled up piece of notepaper at Ash's head – he didn't notice; he was locked in a deadly duel with Misty. 

**"Trainer Card – ha!" **gloated Ash, but his exaltation soon fell when Misty pointed haughtily at the Trainer Card provoking Pokémon Power on her holographic Muk card. 

**"Give up yet, _girl_?" **sneered Gary, as his pointed elbow dug deeply into the thin cabin carpet. Mia smirked and flexed her fingers even tighter. 

**"That's quite scary, I was about to say the exact same sentence to you," **she retorted, her facial features encased with concentration, as she lightly twisted her mouth to blow back a piece of shiny brown hair which had come loose from the clips. 

Jesse and James sat cross-legged at the sidelines of the arm-wrestling match, which was basically an all-out war, with vaguely bemused expressions on their faces. 

**"¥5000 on the girl," **whispered Jesse, and James whimpered. 

~*~ 

_Jacqui edged towards the desk, feeling repulsive energies washing from the simple wooden structure, or rather the remarkable piece of stationary lying atop it._

_She grabbed the pen, and closing her eyes against the act, scribbled on the paper underneath Karlie's name. After the deed, she flung the pen to the side and breathed heavily. But it had had to be done. She really had no choice._

_She only hoped that she would be forgiven._

~*~ 

Without her medication, and with the dampness of her confinement, she was a burning sea of fever. It washed over her relentlessly, until she was dripping with sweat and sobbing with the nausea that it brought. 

Was this death? Was she dying? She only seemed to be getting worse with every harrowed breath she laboured. It wasn't fair, she thought, distracted in some obscene way; if Rin had been totally engulfed in the flames, she would have died in an instant - and there was no doubt the fall itself off the cliff for her poor partner must have been terrifying, but it was over for him quickly enough. 

And now that it seemed her turn to die, it was unfair that hers was so laboured out – so painfully, painfully unfair that she had to be tortured by something as stupid as a fever, to the point where she was begging for death. 

And that simple pot of capsules would have made everything better. 

But the killer of it all was that the whole scene replayed over and over in her collapsing mind – Rachel's unholy crimson eyes, that showed that the body was an empty vessel, and everything evil that she feared was residing in those eyes. 

It really _was_ the stuff of fanfiction, Karlie thought wearily to herself. The goody-two-shoes character has a tragedy fall upon them, then gets eaten away inside by resentment and anger. It seemed that they were the only emotions left in Rachel's shell now. 

But did it have to be Rachel? Deranged Pokémon, or natural disasters she maybe could have come to terms with, but the fact that she was surely being killed by 'one of the gang' awoke new fears in Karlie's rapidly pumping heart. For a start, Rachel was still out there with the others… 

~*~ 

Grunting, James handed over ¥1075 to Jesse, that being all he had, as Mia whooped and threw her arms up in the air. 

**"Ye-eaah, I wo-on! IN YOUR FACE, OAK!" **she gloated, as Gary, with a bruised ego and forearm, skulked off somewhere to sulk. Rachel watched the revelries from a prominent place at the side of the room, trying hard to keep a look of disgusted exasperation off her face; how stupid they were all acting. 

**"You only arm-wrestle him to be that close to him, Mia," **Michelle smirked, raising an eyebrow at the younger, sweatdropping girl. 

**"I've had enough of this," **spoke up Tracey quietly. **"I don't know about you guys but I'm going down to the doctor's quarters."**

**"You mustn't!" **gasped Rachel, immediately. 

**"How do you know if the doctor who said that to you wasn't a fake, Rachel?" **Duplica agreed, standing up and combing a finger through one of her shaggy, turquoise bunches. **"Tracey's right."**

**"I don't feel right either…" **Sarah spoke up, decisively. **"I can feel her aura in all the walls of the cabin, and the walls of the corridor… it's creepy."**

She's not dead then, thought Rachel. 

**"We shouldn't all go," **noted Brock. **"Some of us have to kinda… guard the cabin just in case."**

**"Besides, we'd attract the wrong kind of attention in our large group," **agreed Todd. 

A few minutes later, Rachel slowly followed the rest of the group, laughing and joking boisterously down the thin white corridor: Sarah, Tracey, Mia, Erin and Duplica. 

~*~ 

**"Sarah, we're walking around in circles!" **snapped Duplica, worry evident in her harsh tone. 

**"Never been admitted…" **Mia repeated the doctor's words in a daze. **"Oh God, poor Kaz… she could be anywhere! She could be dead!"**

**"No," **murmured Sarah, her lips set in a grim line. **"She's not dead. Can you feel that prickling sensation on the backs of your hands? That's the pain she's emitting. She's alive, and on the ship, but she's in great pain – great enough that we can pick it up." **Rachel scowled, but had no choice but to keep walking, cursing Sarah darkly as she realised that the little witch was leading them straight to the disused boiler room in which Karlie was fading. 

~*~ 

Something snapped straight through Karlie's heat abused body, and she felt a sudden wonderful detachment. About time, she thought happily, as she felt the pain slip away from her, and her body remained, cold and still on the hard floor. 

~*~ 

**"It's stopped!" **cried the three girls at once. 

**"What's stopped!?" **cried Tracey and Duplica in earnest, whilst Rachel smirked to herself at the good timing. 

**"The aura! It's totally gone!" **murmured Sarah, staring around in disbelief at the many doors around her. **"She must be in one of these rooms though, quickly!"**

Where to start? Rachel made a show of rushing around checking inside rooms, and then approached the one she knew Karlie was in. She slid back the rusty bolt and opened the door a crack, before turning her head back to the others. 

**"Not in this one either," **she said in a fake mournful tone. 

**"That's all of them!" **screeched Duplica, high-pitched in terror. **"If she's not in this corridor she could be anywhere on the ship!"**

**"I'm here." **Rachel hissed like an animal as she saw a flailing arm reach out through the crack and labouredly push the heavy door open. 

**"Jesus CHRIST, Karlie are you okay?" **screeched Erin, when she saw how pale yet flushed her friend was, her hair and clothing saturated. 

**"My fever just broke," **Karlie answered, smiling slightly, although never taking her eyes off Rachel, who looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. **"I've never felt better – of course that's a complete lie but anyway." **The group smiled nervously – Karlie was definitely back and okay, but she was gazing at Rachel with nothing short of pure contempt. 

**"Evil DEMON," **Karlie suddenly said, mustering all her strength and slapping the petite blonde so hard that she fell backwards and to the floor. **"She locked me in there," **she murmured tiredly, as Tracey caught her and lowered her carefully to the floor as her knees buckled. Five pairs of shocked eyes stared at Rachel, who was on the floor on her hands and knees – one clenched fist pressed up against her chest as her short blonde locks fell around her face. Her eyes flickered crimson, and everyone gasped. 

**"Karlie…" **came a voice from Rachel's body – it sounded like her in a sad and miserable tone, but there was an unearthly, hissing echo to the words. Suddenly she inhaled sharply as her eyes truly seemed to bulge, and the red leaked out of her irises, to form a blood-like puddle on the corridor floor. 

Rachel opened her mouth to wail, and a thick black cloud seeped out from it, preventing any sound. As the light hit it, it seemed to disperse and disappear, until there were only a few dark flecks of a dust-like substance floating down the corridor. Rachel grabbed in terror to hold her black pendant in her hands, and the black coating cracked off it, leaving the crystal-like gemstone intact and left remnants on her palm, like flakes of chipped off varnish. 

The gem encased Rachel in a blinding white light, which made everyone avert their eyes. When they looked back a split-second later, Rachel was lying on her front of the corridor floor, her cheek submerged in the puddle of blood that had leaked from her body. The thick red liquid was staining her pretty features and blonde hair, but Rachel didn't move. 

Like she was asleep. 

Or like she was dead? 

~*~

_Jacqueline… _

_Jacqui winced as her velvet-clad counterpart whispered her name. _

_Jacqueline. You altered my ordained._

_(I'm sorry. Forgive me. I couldn't let her die… )_


	12. Take Her Away

**THEME SONG: **"Umi" (Ocean)- Pocket Monsters 

* * *

Rachel's eyes flickered open, but nothing but coloured blobs swarmed in front of her. 

**"Mmm…" **she murmured, as she willed her arm to rise, but nothing happened. 

**"Rachel? Rachel?" **murmured numerous voices; familiar, but somehow she couldn't place the voices with faces. 

**_"Someone had to die," _**_growled a raspy voice somewhere in the back recesses of her memory. **"Sooner or later you'll all be dead. But it's not your turn yet… I think you know whose turn it is next…" **_

**"Karlie…" **Rachel breathed, with a guttural undertone, still not really understanding why the name had surfaced in her mind. The voices continued – earnest, prodding… cautious. 

Her friends, her mind clicked suddenly, and then faces began to appear next to the voices – Gary's haughty but pale face matched to the nasal voice; Trish's worried face to the urgent, Australian-accented voice; Riny's heart-shaped face and frightened eyes to the lilting Irish accent on the ending syllable of the word, and so on. Faces in her mind. Sixteen of them. 

The blurs sharpened, and the faces became clear in vision, a wary but worried circle around her. Jesse, James, Tracey, Mia, Sarah, Brock, Michelle, Todd, Duplica, Erin, Misty, Ash, Trish, and Karlie's sleeping form lay the length of the small cabin away from her. 

But a girl that Rachel had never seen before was standing just a little way behind the circle. A young teenaged girl, her height or even shorter, but with a wise expression that made her seem far older. The girl stared at her with deep brown eyes; her face was pale, and her shoulder-length, ringletty hair shone a similar dark brown, so it was almost verging on black. 

_"I'm sorry_…" the girl whispered – the words unheard by anyone else. 

Rachel furrowed up her brow, and tried to get a close look at the girl, who shimmered almost unreceptively with a deep cerise aura. The others completely ignored her presence, and continued fussing around Rachel. 

_"At the end to find the page is torn,_

_If all have the will to love, yet yield…"_

**"Rachel? Rach speak to us!" **yelled Mia, exasperated, rushing forwards from where she had been momentarily checking on Karlie, and running straight through the apparition of the girl. The image faded away instantly, and Rachel sat straight upwards in shock. 

**"Jacqui," **she gasped as the fog lifted from her memories, and the blood rushed back into her cheeks. 

Jesse shoved her angry face into Rachel's full view. 

**"What the HELL do you THINK you were DOING turning on us you little TWERP!" **she fumed, whilst Rachel ignored her and frantically looked around for one of the now-seeming-so-convenient, notepads and pens. **"What are you looking for? A KNIFE so you can just stab Karlie and be done with it?" **Jesse continued, and for a brief second Rachel stopped, but then saw her own white backpack nearby and scrambled out of the bedding and towards it. 

Sarah and Misty exchanged wary looks as they witnessed Rachel start writing in a frenzy. Karlie opened her eyes, and slowly pulled herself up into a position where she was protectively hugging her knees as she watched Rachel from across the room. Rachel pushed the cap down on her fountain pen with a satisfied click. 

**"Listen to this!" **she announced, in her perfectly normal, yet excited voice. **"At the end to find the page is torn, if all have the will to love, yet yield." **There was silence. 

**"Rachel, we need to have a, um, talk with you…" **came Tracey's gentle, yet slightly angry tone. 

**"Yeah, why did you almost kill Kaz?" **interrupted Ash, bluntly. Rachel's throat went dry. 

**"I… I… what?" **

**"What do you remember?" **asked Michelle, helpfully. Rachel though for a minute. 

**"Richie's dead…" **she murmured, as if she were not stating it, but almost needing it to be reconfirmed. **"The cliff… I… I… looks like you've gone black…" **Rachel's voice dropped to a whisper, and Karlie kept a sharp watch on her eyes, which remained at their usual, innocent blue. **"I… you're next," **Rachel deciphered from her memories, gasping. Her head snapped upwards and she stared at the still sitting Karlie with undisguised horror; her hand flew up to her gaping mouth and her face paled again. 

Karlie shifted under Rachel's intense gaze, and woozily clambered to her feet – the fever had broken, and apart from having the symptoms of a flu, she was otherwise fine. In a flash Tracey was by her side, attempting to help her up, and Karlie looked at him with an impressed amusement. _Almost_ worth it, she smiled to herself. 

**"It was, it was…" **stammered Rachel. **"That woman with red hair! She did something to me, put something in me…" **Rachel's ramblings cut short with a wrenching sob. **"Oh but it was still me," **she cried, flinging her notepad across the cabin in a rage at herself. **"I was going to kill you all, and no matter what she did it was always still me…" **

Everyone looked solemnly at the lamenting teenager, all too frightened to approach her to comfort her. Karlie sighed, and pushed her glasses back up her nose with her middle finger. Moving away from Tracey, she walked forward a few steps and fell slowly to her knees next to Rachel, and gingerly placed her palm on her bowed head. Rachel looked up, melancholy tears swimming down her pasty cheeks. 

**"Karlie, I'm sorry. I wish it had never, ever happened…" **

**"Because of you, I almost died. Rachel, nothing you could say can make it unhappen…" **Karlie replied, in an uncharacteristic tone. Rachel swallowed deeply, and Karlie smiled slightly. **"It _was_ because of you and that's never going to change, but I know it wasn't really you Rach – I saw 'you'- and I know that the person who did all that to me wasn't being controlled by you."**

Karlie paused momentarily, as her pendant glowed dimly but positively, and Rachel stared enraptured at the warm amber stone, feeling subconsciously comforted by a longed for male voice. **"Now Rach, I'm always going to be scared of going places alone with you now," **laughed Karlie, with a hint of sincerity evident. **"But cheer up, we're not going to lock _you_ up or anything!"**

**"I know Velve's scary…" **suddenly contributed Erin. **"And seeing you like that Rach, was scary too…"**

**"We're probably going to see a lot more scary stuff," **said Tracey, sensibly. **"But Rachel just let her guard down, and if we all remember not to, then we'll make it to that island without any more casualties…" **Everyone nodded somberly, and Sarah fell to her knees next to Karlie and Rachel, flipping her brown hair back over her shoulder. 

**"Did you see Jacqui?" **she asked, excitedly, and Rachel nodded slowly.

**"I remember… when I was… before… there was this voice inside my mind that told me that Jacqui was untrustworthy, and that I shouldn't listen to her…"**

**"I guess that means she's trustworthy and we should listen to her," **remarked James. 

**"Did she say anything to you?" **Sarah continued, impatiently, ignoring James completely. 

**"Yeah – she said she was sorry, and then she started quoting something, but disappeared before she could finish what she was saying."**

**"That thing about torn pages?" **asked Brock, and Rachel nodded. 

**"Well, Rach it's about midnight," **informed Trish. **"You've been 'out' for hours, and tomorrow is out last day on the ship. We should all get some sleep." **Mostly everyone nodded. 

**"I can't sleeeeeep now!" **complained both Erin and Mia at the same time. 

**"Well I'm still kinda on Australian time, and I'm shattered!" **retorted Trish. 

**"I need my beauty sleep," **yawned Jesse. 

**"And tomorrow we'll just be trying to keep another one of us alive…" **remarked Misty sadly, as she knew everyone in the room was secretly terrified of going to sleep in case they had a 'dream'. Everyone shifted. 

Rachel stood apart from the mass of yawning females as they settled down on the sheets and pillows. Duplica looked up, and smiled. 

**"Hey, Rach, come sleep here! I don't wanna sleep next to Mia cos she hugs in her sleep and it HURTS!" **the turquoise haired girl joked, as she pulled the pink bands out from the bases of her pigtails. Mia put on a mock angry face, and attempted to whack her partner with one of the large cushions from underneath her. 

~*~ 

_I can't… _

_I can't breathe. _

_I can't move. _

_She panicked – her legs thrashed around futilely in the thick air. Panic arose in her as she reached blindly for a surface that would never come… _

Inside the small square cabin, the gang awoke and fell over each other in shock as two high-pitched feminine screams pierced the air and made their hearts jump. Rachel was nearly blasted to oblivion as both Mia and Duplica sat bolt upright staring at the opposite wall with wide-open eyes and perspiring foreheads. 

~*~ 

**"You can't have had exactly the same dream as each other… that's just NOT how it's supposed to be…" **moaned Ash, through slitted eyes, as he scratched underneath the waistband of his boxer shorts and Misty prodded him sleepily with his jeans. 

**"And who exactly makes up the rules for all this, Ketchum?" **growled Gary, sloppily pouring cold water from the nearby canister into two slightly squashed styrofoam cups and passing them to the two teenaged girls. 

**"You know, if we're gonna keep being woken up at early hours of the morning like this, we should go to bed earlier…" **timidly joked James, and everyone smiled nervously. 

**"It's no big deal, right?" **swallowed an ashen Duplica. **"I mean, we just won't go near the deck until we get off the boat… but I can swim! I just don't get it…"**

**"Yeah, it'll be okay as long as you two stay restricted to this corridor…" **frowned Sarah. **"But there is something weird here… both of you having the same… 'fate'…"**

**"Maybe it's saying like, if Duplica um, dies, then Mia would get sick like I did," **reasoned Karlie, shrugging. Mia stared at her nebulous reflection in the cup of water, and sighed lightly. 

**"Well, it'll be okay," **she said finally, gazing earnestly around the room. **"It was gonna happen sometime, wasn't it?" **She gave a watery smile. **"Ash, I like those boxers…" **Ash stared at her, and self-consciously tried to pull his black tee-shirt down, as everyone erupted into spasms of giggles, and Gary groaned and crushed Duplica's empty styrofoam cup in exasperation. 

~*~ 

Mia lay stretched out on the pillows, not really awake, but not really asleep either. It was nice to not have to go to school – if you didn't mind the constant death threats. She had no idea what time it was, but half the gang seemed to be out of the room, and the others were playing cards in a bored fashion. Erin lay still asleep about a metre away from her, upside down with her knee practically in her mouth - she never got up before 2pm if she didn't have to. 

**"Mmmm whasatime?" **she murmured as she stretched. Michelle looked down at her. 

**"It's about 11.15," **she answered pressing stop on her walkman. 

**"What's going on?" **Mia asked, hoisting herself up. Michelle shrugged. 

**"Nothing much. James has been threatening to throw up all morning – Rachel's been playing this random card game with Sarah for at least 3 hours. It's exhausting to watch. Ash, stuuuuupidly asked me if he could hide his clean underwear in my backpack. You want 'em?" **Mia laughed. Gary strutted over. 

**"Hey, Sleeping Beauty," **he sneered. **"You holdin' up okay?" **Mia ignored his comment. 

**"Where's Duplica?" **she asked, quickly looking around. 

**"Relax, she's off somewhere with Todd and Misty. She promised she wouldn't go higher than this deck though, calm down," **replied Michelle, jabbing the rewind button. Mia rubbed her nose sleepily, before climbing to her feet and shuffling across to the pathetically tiny en-suite bathroom. Blushing lightly, Ash made his way over to the only one left sleeping, and flopped down next to the lump he assumed to be her head. 

**"Um, Erin? Are you asleep?" **he asked. 

**"…yes."**

**"Oh sorr- waitasec, I need to talk to you."**

**"…do I have to listen, or can I sleep?"**

**"I think you'd better listen." **Erin groaned, and rolled over. 

**"Demands, demands, demands – the clock's still got AM after the time! Are you nuts?"**

**"Well, I heard you were nice to talk to…"**

**"Nice? Nice compared to Anne Robinson, or nice compared to Sailor Moon?"**

**"Well, I can't talk to any of the guys, or Misty, Jesse and Duplica… Rachel has… kinda freaked me out; Karlie has ALWAYS freaked me out; I'm frightened that Mia might talk me into telling her where I hid my underwear; Michelle keeps asking me weird questions like: have you ever noticed you don't seem to have a father? And: what are those things on your cheeks? Sarah won't stop going on about this Melody girl I met in Shamouti a while back, and Trish just wants to touch my hand all day lon-"**

**"Touch your hand?" **Erin asked, in puzzlement. Ash shrugged, deeply. 

**"Says it's something 'bout me shaking hands with that Dragonite guy at the Orange League finals…" **Erin nodded wisely. 

**"Um, okay I see your point. Shoot."**

**"Kay, well, I guess I need your advice…" **he began, embarrassed. 

**"Stop letting your Pokémon go."**

**"No, not about tha-"**

**"Stop hyperventilating every time Pikachu's out of your sight for more than a nano-second."**

**"I- what?"**

**"Go and punch all that glittery dandruff out of Rudy's hair."**

**"What, no Erin this is about-"**

**"Misty!" **Mia called, as the cabin door swung open and the redhead appeared, rubbing her shoulder length hair with a towel and humming to herself. **"Where are Todd and Duplica?" **Misty stopped, startled. 

**"They walked me down to the swimming pool, and said they were coming back here…" **In a flash, everyone (even Erin) was on their feet. 

**"How long ago was that?" **demanded Sarah. 

**"I dunno, more than an hour," **answered Misty, dropping her towel to the floor. Mia grabbed at the dark green pendant suspended from her neck, which was remaining cool and un-active. Mia swung around and grabbed Sarah by the shoulders. 

**"Do you feel anything I don't feel anything is something wrong?" **she garbled, without taking a breath. Sarah shook her head warily. **"Is that good or bad?" **she wailed, spinning around again and grabbing Michelle's vivid pink necklace, almost strangling her. Michelle made a strange, gargling sound as Mia glared at the un-reactive pink gem. 

**"Look Mia,"** began Brock, slowly. **"If you and Michelle aren't being affected, I think it's safe to say that Todd and Duplica are okay – they've probably gone to the gym or something – Duplica wanders off all the time." **Mia ignored Brock's sage words of advice and looked pleadingly at Trish, who sighed. 

**"How about if they're not back in half an hour we go search for them?" **she asked. Mia narrowed her eyes. 

**"Ten minutes."**

**"Twenty-five…"**

**"Twenty."**

**"Done." **

**"Aieeee………" **squealed James, turning an interesting shade of green as the luxury cruiser gently leant from side to side. **"I'm gonna throw uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup!" **Erin twitched as James retched up his quality buffet breakfast about three centimetres from where she usually slept. Instantly, the three girls surrounding her patted her comfortingly on the shoulder, then giggled as they realised they all knew each other far too well for the situation. Rachel sighed. 

**"I'll um, get a mop…" **she said, leaving the room smiling to herself as James moaned, Jesse screeched and Erin began lugging huge cushions across the room. There was a communal janitor's closet opposite their cabin, but a few doors down, and it took Rachel all of thirty seconds to stroll to the rather grimy white door. She reached for the traditional silver doorknob, and merrily pulled open the door. She blinked. 

**"Oh I'm sorry, I appear to have opened the door into Mia's imagination," **she apologised, aching to laugh but managing to keep a straight face. She closed the door solemnly on the two de-robed and guilty looking teenagers, and erupted into silent giggles. **"MIA!! MICHELLE!" **she yelled, in the direction of their cabin. **"I FOUND TODD AND DUPLICA!!"**

**~*~**

Lillith lay on her grand canopy bed, in the large, murky room. She lay confined, as she had for countless weeks now, unable to get out, unable to breath fresh air, or even check that the large-scale search for her estranged daughter was going on as promised. 

Long since abandoned by her pet, the old woman stared at the back of her lily-white hand – free of wrinkles and liver spots; just as perfect as it had been in her prime. Lillith shifted, and allowed herself to ache for the company of another. She had been fond of that little Nidoran female, but it was the third one in a week – her 'pets' kept being spirited away, probably for the experiments, she told herself dolefully. 

She was fond of Poison Pokémon, but also held an infinity for those of Ice – well, it wasn't surprising with a famous daughter like hers, she thought proudly. Oh, she had been a terrible, terrible mother, she thought. Her eldest son had been a necessity – an heir, but he had quickly changed into "the brat child", and a problem. Lorelei had always been favoured, an accident from one of the one-night stands she had been so famed for, even when her husband had been alive. 

But Lillith had been in her late-thirties, and her 'business' was booming. She had no time for the mauve pigtailed little girl with brandy coloured eyes who at first patiently held out a Pokéball containing a Seel or whatever, and ask if 'Meem' would help her train? Meem – it was a stupid little nickname; there was nothing wrong with saying 'mother', and sure enough, Lorelei had stopped saying it around 8 or so. Lillith had never been too sure of how old the child was. 

But then her little baby girl became famous – Elite Four beginning member. Weed out the weak! Of course, her background had helped her get the position just a little… 

But then, Lorelei had disappeared. Vanished from her suite in the Indigo Plateau, and some bespectacled moron called Bob or Bill or whatever had taken her place. And now the only lead they had to finding the missing link in their family was a lavender-haired Ice Trainer who wandered around the Orange Islands and called herself Prima. 

And she was going to find this Prima before she died. She was sure of it. 

Lillith's eyes began to droop, and she gazed up at the ceiling, willing for her 'friends' to appear. 

**"Dreams are made for the soul purpose of becoming reality," **she murmured. **"And I can make all my dreams come true…"**

The maid and the young boy watched the dozing woman from the doorway; the boy holding Lillith's new 'pet'. 

**"Is that her?" **he asked breathlessly, as he beheld the awe-inspiring legend. The maid nodded briskly. 

**"Yes, now you'd better bring that thing into her before she falls asleep. Only speak if you are spoken to, and if she asks you if you can see her 'friends' floating above her bed, just humour her and say yes." **The young boy nodded – too new a member to be part of a division or team yet. He was nothing more than a laboratory hand. 

**"Woah…" **he breathed, respectfully, as he edged before the elegant four poster bed. **"The Madame Boss…" **

~*~ 

**"Everybody up on deck!" **the crewman shouted, after simply barging into the small cabin and frightening everyone half to death. Mia began to panic.

**"Deck? Why?" **

**"Captain's orders. We've gotta get you in the lifeboats," **he answered briskly, as he attempted to leave, but Jesse grabbed his arm. 

**"Don't tell me we're sinking!" **she growled, and the man shrugged his arm loose. 

**"We are not sinking miss," **he said in a haughty tone. **"The captain will explain up on deck. Hurry now." **He left the room, and momentarily could be heard informing the next cabin. There was a stunned silence for a second, before James broke it. 

**"Eee, I've got a sinking feeling about th-"**

**"Don't go there!" **snapped Gary, immediately, glancing across to where Duplica and Mia were staring straight ahead of them. They were in total silence, but grasping each others' hand so tightly their hands appeared deathly white. 


	13. Razor Sharp Kisses

**THEME SONG: **'My Heart I Can't Say, Your Heart I Want To Know' – Ah! Megami-sama, opening theme

* * *

Gary tried his hardest not to flinch as the nails on Mia's white fingers dug deeply into the soft flesh on his hand. She stared straight ahead of her with glassy eyes, latched on to both him and Duplica as the large group moved as a whole down the grimy ship corridor; a protective shell of bodies around the two petrified teenaged girls. Gary stared at the pallid complexion of the girl of Spanish origin beside him – despite her bravado, her raw trepidation was evident. 

A sheepish Duplica and Todd seemed to have taken to staying as far apart from each other as was possible, but anxious glances from Todd's brown eyes continuously roamed over to the newly exposed object of his passions. Duplica herself had her bushy turquoise hair loose, and was brushing it continually out of her eyes irritably; but as ever moving as her arm was, her eyes, like Mia's, remained glassy and staring straight ahead. 

Nobody spoke, as the sixteen of them crept warily up to the deck, squinting under the tropical sunshine. Tracey blinked, adjusting faster than others. He muttered under his breath, so that only Karlie could hear him properly. 

**"That's not Valencia Island…"**

**"Attention!"** snapped an official-looking deck-hand. **"Now everybody please don't panic, this is merely a safety pre-"**

**"HOLY CRAP!" **Michelle squealed, bluntly, from where she was almost falling overboard by the side railing. Todd sighed, and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her to relative safety. She ignored him and pointed with an uncharacteristically shaking finger out at what should have been a sparkling, tropical ocean. 

Instead of foamy white tufts adorning the water, there were huge, shiny black splodges, oozing and stretching everywhere. The passengers of the luxury liner gazed in disgust at the scene, but seven hands flew to seven pendants as they twinged in warning. The oil was spreading unnaturally fast, the emissions from the main body reaching out like fingers to devour yet more of the ocean. 

**"We can't steer the boat through the oil-spill," **explained the crew member. **"It's no big deal. We're going to just put you in the lifeboats with a member of the crew, and they'll row you to mainland Mandarin."**

**"MANDARIN?" **echoed most of the Valencia-bound crew. The deckhand shrugged. 

**"This is as far as we can go. You'll be taken to the seaside resort of Kiwi Cove on South-East Mandarin, and hopefully you can get alternative transport there…" **The man continued to tell the passengers about the great coach-travel deals that their mainland travel company offered, but a group of anxious people huddled together away from the crowd. Duplica looked fit to pass out at any moment, and was now leaning wearily on Todd. 

**"I'm not getting off this boat," **Mia snapped, fearfully, leaning as far back from the railing as she could manage. She eyed the unloading lifeboats – each a luminescent orange in colour, and able to seat 35 people. 

**"Mia you can't stay," **soothed Sarah, grabbing the older girl's arm comfortingly. **"It'll be okay."**

**"Look at all the people," **Ash quipped, gesturing around at the crew, passengers and finally their own little group. **"We're not gonna let anything happen to you two."**

**"Let's split up between boats," **suggested Jesse, tossing her plaited hair over her shoulder decisively. **"That way more of them will have to sink."**

**"No," **answered back Brock. **"If we do that we're endangering the lives of the other people in the lifeboat. I say we wait until there's only one left, and go in it ourselves." **Mia and Duplica stared sadly at each other. Brock's face softened. **"I know it's scary girls, but we're all be there with you." **Duplica managed a weak smile, and Mia conjured up her grin. Erin laughed. 

**"It feels like we should be doing something corny here, like clasping hands in the middle of the circle or something!" **Misty raised her eyebrow at this, and defiantly stuck her hands out, palm down. Everyone rolled their eyes, but a few people went along with it. Gary folded his arms and muttered something unpleasant, and Duplica found herself smiling for real as she began to feel comfortable in the protection of her friends again. Todd was still standing behind her, and he pressed his lips to her cheek as he murmured words of encouragement. 

**"Need a rower?" **the deckhand asked as he helped Jesse hop daintily into the gently rocking lifeboat, which was suspended over the edge of the deck – the last lifeboat containing passengers to leave; the ratio of seats to passengers had been almost double. Brock hesitantly shook his head. 

**"No, we're fine. James and I will row."**

**"Aie?" **squealed James, but was abruptly silenced when Jesse smacked him with the fan she had magically pulled from somewhere. Mia stepped nervously into the swaying boat, her legs feeling like partially solidified water. She was sweating from the tropical heat, but her entire body shivered with a artic chill, and with a quick glance behind her, she could see that Duplica was in pretty much the same state. 

Mia practically threw herself into the centremost seat in the centremost bench, squeezing between Rachel and Trish and latching onto the bench with white knuckles. Whimpering slightly, Duplica was helped into the boat by Todd, and sat on the bench opposite Mia, her legs shaking so much that her knees were visibly knocking one another. Both girls gasped despite themselves as the boat was roughly lowered to one of the only uncovered areas of water. Brock reached for an oar. 

**"Here we go."**

~*~ 

_Author closed her colourless eyes, and twirled a strand of her colourless hair around a finger. Jacqui watched from a metre away, where she leant against the wall watching her counterpart with growing fear and hatred. _

_"Two little girlies, sittin' in the boat," Author sang sweetly, in Jacqui's voice, startling the girl. "Two little girlies, sittin' in the boat," she repeated, reaching for the biro pen. "But if one of girlies, should accidentally drown…" Her voice stopped mid-verse, and Jacqui pushed herself forwards off the wall, defiantly. _

DUPLICA IMITE. 

MARIA RENEE RODRIGUEZ.

_Jacqui stared at the names on the paper over Author's shoulder. _

_(I don't want you to do this) she pressed the figure. (Don't do it again, please don't. I don't want that on my conscience.) Author ignored the girl's plea, and stared hungrily at the two names. _

_"One at a time," she murmured, half to herself and half to Jacqui. Abruptly, she turned to stare at the girl, and Jacqui flinched when she gazed into the surreally familiar eyes. Author lifted herself from the deskchair, and stood up in front of Jacqui, grasping her hand sisterly in her own. _

_"You chose, Jacqueline," she insisted, earnestly. "Which one is going to survive to see another night?" Jacqui gasped in disgust. _

_(How dare you ask me something like that?) her soundless voice rang in anger. (There will be no more deaths in my story. Do you hear me? This is MY story.) Author shook her head gently. _

_"Jacqueline, this is a large responsibility," interrupted Velve, as she walked towards them, with the purple velvet of her robes sliding gracefully over her skin. "You may as well decide, because both will die eventually. It's just the way things are." _

_Jacqui stared at the names again, tears stinging her eyes as she realised it was true. She sighed, as she decided, but stared up at the other two females with despair in her dark eyes. _

_(I wish you two would leave me alone), she murmured, before wearily sliding down the wall to the floor, and hanging her throbbing head over her bent upwards knees. _

**_I'd give anything to silence the voices ringing in my head._**

~*~ 

The short journey was about half over – and Brock and James were surprisingly skilled at dodging the large and ever-moving colonies of foreboding black ooze that now adorned so much of the scenery. The small waves ebbing against the boat began to relax Mia. She looked across at Duplica, who was laughing and joking with Todd and Karlie; she was very animated, and gestured widely as she retold a favourite joke. 

Good, thought Mia, satisfied. I'm glad Duplica has calmed down, she was worse than a sentry earlier. It's only when _you let your guard down_ that you realise that the whole world's not out to get you. Mia's smiling and half-closed eyes suddenly snapped open in shock at the wording of her thoughts. She opened her mouth to issue a warning to her unsuitably jovial partner, but nothing came out but a strangled cry as Mia felt the bottom of the boat jar far more than it had previously. 

The tropical water was as cold as ice, and Mia spluttered as her gaping mouth was filled with a mixture of the unnaturally chill water, and diluted oil. Cries issued from the rest of the group, mainly in shock at the stabbing pain of the freezing water. Mia whirled around, trying her hardest to keep afloat in the water that was thick with oil. 

**"Where the frell has the boat gone?" **she snapped, in panic as various Trainers released various Water Pokémon. Rachel floated around at the sound of Mia's voice, and her mouth twisted into a scream. 

**"MIA!" **Mia struggled to turn around in the thick water, and screamed herself at the rapidly approaching wave of oil. Without thinking, she and the few people who were near her dived under the surface. 

With her heart and head pounding, Duplica breast-stroked through the water as fast as she could. All of her senses told her this was wrong – oil _does not chase you underwater_. Up ahead she could see Mia and Ash, but the rest were too far in front that the murky water shaded all but their rough outlines. Her lungs protested at their lack of oxygen, and frantically she headed for the surface, feeling her thick hair weighing against her. 

Mia's head broke the surface of the water at the same time Duplica's did, and both the girls took long, gulping breaths of air. Instantly, they swan the few short strokes to each other, and rotated around in the water. 

**"The boat's down there," **Mia croaked, her fright even more obvious now that she knew their boat had sunk for no apparent reason. 

**"We've got worse problems," **cried Duplica, bursting into frantic tears, despite herself. Mia swore under her breath as she swiveled around to take in her full surroundings. They were enclosed; a circle of grease was purposefully forming itself around them. Duplica ducked back under the water, but the wall of oil reached further down than they could ever hope to survive without air. 

**"We've got, we've got, t-to swim straight through the oil," **Mia stammered, determinedly. Duplica set her jaw, knowing full well there was no time for complaints now. **"Okay?" **Mia asked, pausing just about to dive, and speaking in an uncharacteristically high voice. Duplica nodded, fearfully. **"Hey, Ditz…" **Mia murmured softly, and Duplica looked at her inquisitively. **"I'm… sorry I guess." **Duplica nodded, understanding. **"And goodbye. Just in case."**

**"Just in case," **Duplica echoed, before the teenagers shared a resolute smile, and dived. 

I can't… 

I can't breathe. 

I can't move. 

She panicked – her legs thrashed around futilely in the thick water. Panic arose in her as she reached blindly for a surface that, for her, would never come… 

~*~ 

The two bodies were dragged up onto the sand, and instantly they crowded around the motionless Mia and Duplica. Todd made a strangled sound in his throat, and supported Duplica's limp head as Trish quickly checked her pulse. Her fingers remained at the girls neck for almost a minute – she could feel it, but it kept fading away. 

Mia stared upwards at the concerned faces above her. She was alive. She was out of the water. But she still couldn't breathe properly. Weakly, she turned her head and saw the dying Duplica lying next to her, and she pinched her eyes shut in anger and pain. What is the point anymore. 

Mia opened her eyes feebly once more as she felt someone begin to stroke her hair. A young girl with dark hair and eyes was kneeling by her head smiling softly. Mia felt like she was about to burst into the tears she had run out of – Jacqui… did this mean she was going to live or die? There was still an immense crushing pain in her lungs. 

_"They'll give their auras, strength revealed _

_And your fallen ones shall come reborn..."_

Mia blinked, and somewhere in her foggy brain made a note to remember what she assumed to be the second half of Rachel's verse. She stared up at Jacqui, unable to say anything to her or her worried friends. Why is it so hard to breathe?

Breathe. Breathe. In. Out. She could hear it now. Rasping as she breathed in. Wet as she breathed out. Breathe. Breathe. 

Jacqui stood up gracefully, and stood above Duplica's unmoving form. She emitted a sad sigh. 

_I am truly sorry. _

Mia watched as the girl faded away into nothing but small flecks of a black dust, which landed undetected onto Duplica's face. 

Hot pain seared through Mia's body, racing through every vein and passage and concentrating in her chest. The force was so much that her back arched straight upwards, and a intense dark green light burst from her pendant, thin at its origin, and thickening as it grew taller. Mia opened her mouth to scream from the unbearable pain, but no sound came out; only what seemed to the spectators to be gallons and gallons of black liquid, pouring out of Mia's lungs. 

Mia finally fell back, exhausted and in tears as the light sucked backwards into her pendant, and Trish dropped her fingers, starting to cry as she realised there wasn't, and never would be any pulse in Duplica's body to sense again. 

Breathe. Breathe. Mia repeated her mantra. Breathe. Because you can. 


	14. Sugar Scented

**THEME SONG: **'Piece of Love' – _Ranma ½ the Movie: Nihao my Concubine_

* * *

The two slender teenaged girls stood in the bright tropical sunshine, blonde and chestnut hair blowing in the pleasing sea breeze. Mia shuddered, and pulled her towel closer around her shoulders, hating the feeling of her short wet hair on her clammy neck. Rachel shot her a sympathetic glance, smoothing down the hem of her grey skirt. 

**"At the end to find the page is torn – if all have will to love... yet yield…" **Rachel murmured half to herself. 

**"They'll give their auras, strength revealed – and your fallen ones shall come reborn…" **completed Mia, with a sharp rise of her eyebrow. The girls pondered the verse in silence momentarily. 

**"Any ideas on what it means?" **Rachel asked the nearby Michelle, sighing deeply. 

**"Not a fuckin' one," **Michelle answered bluntly dropping a rock the size of her fist onto the forming pile. One already completed pyramid of stone sat near to it, a crude piece of driftwood wedged in the top. Helping her with the collection were Ash, Jesse, James, Trish, Pikachu and a swollen-eyed Todd. Erin and Sarah lay lazily on their backs, just out of reach of the lapping waves, Riny nursing a cut on her palm from a unusually sharp rock. 

Brock and Gary were having an arm-wrestling marathon, and had seemingly been frozen in time for the previous 20 minutes, as both teens seemed uncannily equally strong. Misty watched with a bored expression on her face, pausing every now and then to glare at the frolicking Meowth. Karlie frolicked also, running in and out of the waves squealing as Tracey watched and sweatdropped. 

**"Chase me! Chase me!" **she laughed, kicking her leg and sending flicks of water aimed at Tracey, but hit Riny. This just made Karlie laugh harder, but she sweatdropped when the short girl rolled up her trouser legs and charged into the water. **"Hey," **Karlie protested meekly, backing away. **"I wanted _Tracey_ to chase me, not yoooooooou!"**

Rachel and Mia smiled at the scene, both visibly sobering when they looked down on the two mounds that represented Duplica and Richie. 

**"Hey, if they come back to life…" **Michelle began, standing off and brushing her hands off. **"And we've buried them…" **Mia began to giggle inanely at the image of their friends as dirt-covered zombies, and Rachel sweatdropped. 

**"Hey, they're gonna come back… right…" **Rachel murmured almost inaudibly – more of a string of garbled words than a question. Mia gulped – not a reaction of worry or fear, but because her throat still felt red-raw, and greasy. 

**"Sure. I don't know what's going on here, I won't pretend that I do..." **Michelle professed, in a sincere tone. **"But we wouldn't be feeling so god-damn positive about the**** loss of two of our friends if it were the end. Someone's making it easy to bear... there must be a reason." **Michelle smiled to herself as she heard a high-pitched, semi-garbled wail from Erin as she suddenly ran in further than her depth, and was swallowed up to her ears; this of course being followed by hysterical laughter from Karlie, Sarah and Tracey. **"There's no way this story can't have a happy ending!" **Rachel gave a wobbly smile, but then the conversation was abolished as Trish bounded up, followed by Tracey carrying a shivering and dripping wet Erin, a lovely piece of seaweed adorning her hair. Karlie followed practically on Tracey's back, complaining that _she_ had never been carried, and Sarah trotted along after that, still sniggering to herself. 

**"Okay, we need to go book fifteen people and two Pokémon into a hotel, then tomorrow morning, we'll travel by road to the North and get the hell off this island!" **Trish's plan of action was met with roaring appraisal, and the group all nervously gazed at their childish and unsteady monuments to their dead companions. They grinned impishly at each other, and set off at a run across the deserted stretch of beach, with their backpacks bumping up and down against their backs, and their shoes grasped precariously in their hands as their bare feet kicked up small clouds of sand. 

**"Ack! Ash you TWERP! That was my EYE!" **Gary smirked as he ducked beneath the strife of Misty's mallet, feeling uncharacteristically part of the team. Then he burst out laughing when Ash got malleted straight into the sand, and snapped out of it. 

~*~ 

The Takai-Ryokan was the Archipelago's finest hotel, and the group stared up at it in awe, feeling the need to describe it as 'a large golden monument soaring up towards the tropical skies' (well, that's what the sign outside it said anyway). Thirteen people and two loose Pokémon was far too much to impose on the particularly skitty Nurse Joy of Kiwi Cove, and if they _had_ to stay in a hotel, concluded Brock, they had to stay in style. 

Gary however wasn't so pleased. They had to book three rooms: two middle-sized and one large; but even for a single night, Oak had to part with 2 weeks worth of Trainer battle winnings. When he asked sulkily why he was paying, Misty grinned and answered because he was the richest and therefore, most highly skilled Trainer, while she thoughtfully held a fuming Ash by the collar. 

Still awe-stricken, the group walked into the elevator, delighted that it accommodated all of them quite comfortably, and Sarah jumped and grabbed hold of the nearest person (happily for her it was Brock) when a electronic voice piped from the nearby speaker. 

**"Hell. Oh. Guests. Ket-chum, Sa-to-shi, Ash-ton; Wa-ter-flower, Ya-wa, Ka-su-mi, Mis-ty; Sl-ate, Tak-e-shi, Brock; Sket-chitt, Mei-mi, Ka-ty," **Everyone stared wide-eyed at Tracey, whose eyes were also open wide. The voice continued. **"Oak, Shi-ge-ru, Ga-reth; Cam-eron, Too-ru, Todd, Mor-gan-Ty-ler-Smy-the, Kou-ji-rou, Ja-mes; Bell, Mu-sa-shi, Jess-ica; Pi-ka-chu; Me-ow-th; Der-van, Hi-ro-shi, Ri-chard…" **Rachel gasped and whirled around as if she expected to see him standing behind her. Ash shot a look at the bag on his shoulder. Everyone else stared warily at the speaker as it fizzed with static and repeated: **"Unknown! Does not compute!" **seven times before seemingly calming down and continuing. **"What rooms would you like me to take you to?" **

Sarah fumbled for the piece of paper that had their room names written on. 

**"Um, Akudou, Kobi and Tobokeru please," **she murmured into the speaker, sweatdropping slightly at the absurdity of it all; however Ash and the other 'characters' seemed totally unperturbed by it. The elevator shuddered into life and Sarah felt like the wind had been knocked out of her when a split-second later the doors opened to reveal a lavishly decorated corridor. 

**"Good. Bye. Have a nice. Day. Ket-chum, Sa-to-shi, Ash-ton; Wa-ter-flower, Ya-wa, Ka-su-mi, Mis-ty; Sl-ate, Tak-e-shi, Brock; Sket-chitt, Mei-mi, Ka-ty; Oak…" **Everyone made a frantic dash out of the doors and into the eerily quiet corridor, which had a sobering effect on them. Misty raised her eyebrow at Tracey, who sweatdropped. 

**"Okay, okay, so I musta picked up my mum's IDC…"**

**"IDC?" **repeated the authors, totally bemused but very interested. 

**"Your mum is called Katy? I'm learning sooo much about you!" **Karlie gushed. 

**"Identification Chips," **Ash answered, with a confused tilt of his head. **"Don't you have them where you come from?"**

**"No…" **Trish answered. 

**"Not yet anyway," **Michelle muttered darkly. 

**"Why did it pick up Richie?" **Erin finally said, voicing what she knew Rachel was dying to. Ash shrugged the extra bag off his shoulder. 

**"I guess he must have had his IDC in his bag instead of on his person at all times like the law says," **he frowned. Rachel stared at the bag – she hadn't noticed it before. Ash had kept Richie's bag. She looked over at Todd, and sure enough he had a small slingback bag with yellow stars all over it as well as his own sensible brown one. Rachel smiled. 

**"Okay!" **Erin motivated, putting on her 'happy' voice, and motioning for Sarah to hand her the slip of paper. **"All boys in this one," **she instructed, pointing to the larger room, with the word 'Akudou' engraved on the door. **"That includes Meowth," **she ordered. **"Okay next," **she continued, pointing at the middle door of the three rooms, the one with 'Kobi' engraved on it; **"This one is for Jesse, Misty, Karlie, Trish and Mia. So that means me, Rach, Sarah, and Mitch are in this one," **she finished, pointing towards the room marked 'Tobokeru'. **"Got all that?" **Everyone solemnly nodded. 

**"Well we can't go anywhere till tomorrow, and it's only about one in the afternoon…" **Brock shrugged… 

**"So let's hit the pool!" **Ash finished for him, and the group split three ways, with the authors laughing as they took the extremely confused lift back down to the lobby to purchase some swimsuits (with Gary's money of course). 

~*~ 

Mia smirked and lowered her sunglasses as she watched Gary become more and more unnerved as he swam laps around the pool and Rachel dutifully trotted along the side parallel to him. The pool was empty apart from them (it not being tourist season you know…) so Gary had more room to exercise than he knew what to do with. However the petite blonde girl in the pink bikini was driving him crazy – and _not_ in the sexual sense. Finally he cracked, and pulled her into the water by her foot. Rachel spluttered as she dunked under the crystal liquid, and resurfaced, her now seeming darker hair plastered to her face. 

**"WHAT are you doing?" **they both yelled at each other at the same time. Rachel huffed, and attempted to sort her hair out. 

**"I was *trying* to protect you."**

**"You were STALKING me! For a second it felt like I was Tracey and you were Karlie!" **A pair of recently purchased goggles fwapped Gary in the back of the head, but he paid them no heed. Gary and Rachel continued arguing, as Karlie self-consciously swam small laps around Tracey and Ash, being extra careful not to let anything higher than her neck show, as, like most teenaged girls, she was stupidly unnecessarily embarrassed about a bikini-clad body. 

Erin had simply refused to buy or wear one, saying that bikinis were sexist and evil, proclaiming that she'd wear one when guys started wearing them. A smirking Michelle had reminded her of the episode: 'Holiday in Acapulco' and Riny had then quietly slipped into one and into the water. 

**"Hey Mia!" **called Ash from the shallow end. **"Come in and play volleyball!" **he invited. Mia froze, and shook her head, smiling slightly. She was _quite_ happy sunbathing. **"C'mon!" **Ash pushed, and Sarah attempted to nudge him to shut him up. 

**"Shut it Ketchum, isn't it understandable that Mia's a little wary of the water at the moment?" **Gary's nasal voice proceeded her nudge, and Ash sweatdropped and apologised, as Brock, James, Tracey, Misty, Todd and Ash began a game of volleyball over an invisible net. 

Meanwhile, Gary had had _quite_ enough of Rachel's new 'over-protective' outlook on him – she was like the over-protective parents he'd never had. Putting his acting skills to use, he flippantly started a conversation about Tracey and Karlie. One minute later and Rachel's eyes were are large as dinner-plates and her face was a furious red. Gary smirked to himself as she zoomed off towards Karlie in the deep end, *finally* leaving him alone. 

~*~ 

**"I demand an explanation for why I was dragged away from my topless Kenji-koi!!" **Karlie yelled, when the authors were assembled together on the side, near to Mia's sun-lounger. 

**"You're dripping on meeeee!" **she wailed, as the Pokémon characters sweatdropped from the pool as they watched the secretive huddle from a distance. 

**"I think they're plotting to kill us," **Ash said seriously. 

**"You won't be calling him your Kenji-koi in a minute Kaz," **Rachel said, ominously, making everyone lean inwards. **"Karlie, just remember that you're a wonderful person and we all love you for who you are…" **she stalled. Karlie rolled her eyes and made a 'hurry-up' motion with her hands, as all the wet authors were freezing standing on the side motionless for so long. 

**"C'mon!"**

**"Okay," **Rachel continued, gulping. Everyone's eyes grew wide as Rachel relayed what Gary had told her Tracey had said about Karlie. 

Karlie's scream of outrage echoed angrily around Kiwi Cove. 

~*~ 

Now back in her clothes, Karlie ran her arm obstinately across her nose as she sniffed again. Her hands were shaking as if she was shivering from cold, and it was proving difficult to ignite the firelighter she had stolen from Brock's bag. She gave a watery smile of triumph as the sink-full of old newspaper caught alight, and the flames danced and blazed in the large ceramic sink of the Kobi ensuite bathroom. 

Reaching over towards the counter, Karlie gently picked up a large, A5 sketchbook, running her fingers lovingly over the smudged pencil lines, as she flicked through page after page after page of sketches, mostly Pokémon, but a few here and there of people, and even one of her alone. Clenching her fist and wrinkling the cartridge paper, Karlie's eye twinged slightly at the cloud of smoke. 

**"TRACEY YOU EGG!" **she bellowed, as she sacrificed the contents of his most prized sketchbook to the hungry fire, cackling madly. She watched with pride as the paper blackened and burnt to ashes, feeling a pang of sadness when she caught sight of her own eyes in her portrait staring back accusingly at her as that page too smouldered and coiled in on itself until it was gone completely. Karlie was startled out of her reverie by a high-pitched beeping sound. 

**"Ack," **she murmured tiredly, when she looked up and saw the flashing and beeping fire alarm. Split seconds later, someone came crashing through the door, and landed on the counter, centimetres from the fire. Karlie regarded him coolly, complete with icy stare. Tracey stared at her bemused. 

**"Kaz what's going on? Why did you start a-" **Tracey's voice trailed off as he saw the empty binding of his sketchbook inches from him, and the charred scraps in the sink. He stared at her with wide, slightly-scared dark green eyes. **"Wha- why?" **he asked desolately. Karlie simply intensified her cool stare, and walked with her arms folded out of the bathroom. Despondently, Tracey turned the water on, making the dying fire in the sink hiss angrily, until it too was gone, leaving only soggy, black leftovers, which had once been his prize-winning sketches. 

Tracey rubbed his face tiredly, feeling a deep urge to cry. 

**"Oh she's gonna pay for this," **he murmured throatily, his voice cracking. Gary, who was listening outside, suddenly began to wonder if his idea had been such a good one after all… 

~*~ 

Tracey relished in his short burst of an evil cackle: _don't let people walk all over you_, his mother had always used to say. Wouldn't you be proud of me now, mum, Tracey thought as he repeatedly stabbed the neck of the teddy-bear with a pair of sharp scissors. Victoriously, he held up the severed head of the toy, as stuffing floated from the gaping hole in the neck to the ground. Michelle and Misty wandered in to Kobi chatting, before halting in horror. 

**"You WANKER!" **Michelle yelled, in disbelief, while Misty just gaped. **"What the HELL did she ever do to YOU?" **Tracey's eye twitched. 

**"Karlie burnt all my best sketches…" **he growled. Michelle balled her fists up angrily. 

**"So why the fuck did ya mutilate _Riny's_ teddy bear?!" **Tracey looked at what he was holding, and sweatdropped. This… was not gonna be good. 

~*~ 

**"I'm so sorry Bubble," **Karlie comforted, as she strode round and round the Tobokeru room, containing all the authors plus Misty. **"I shoulda given it back to you when I first realised it got mixed up with my stuff from the tent, but I totally forgot!"**

**"S'not your fault," **Riny sniffed, as she attempted to sew her Lucy-Bear's head back on to its body – but as she hadn't sewn anything since Year 2 at school she wasn't making much headway. Michelle also wandered around and around the room, muttering random cursewords under her breath – the stress of it all having finally hit her smack in the face. 

**"It's like he's a completely different person!" **Misty noted. **"He's acting… like… sorry Rach, but like he's possessed like _you_ were!" **Everyone jumped. 

**"You think that's it?" **Trish asked warily, but Karlie shook her head. 

**"No, he hasn't been on his own since we got on the ship. He's just SCUM."**

Riny held up the sewn bear, and then watched in heartbreak as the head toppled off and rolled into the corner. Her mouth clenched. 

**"DesTROY him," **she commanded. 

**"Can do!" **Mia laughed, grabbing some charcoal that she had sneaked from Tracey's bag earlier than day, and smudging two black lines under her eyes. 

~*~ 

Mia, Michelle and Karlie stealthily crept into the boy's Akudou room, swiftly handing Brock a Playboy magazine (also snuck from Tracey's bag earlier) to keep him quiet. He trotted off quite happily, leaving the three revenge-hungry girls alone in the room. 

**"Mia," **murmured Karlie. **"How is stealing all his boxer shorts gonna destroy him?" **Mia shrugged. 

**"It's fun." **Karlie and Michelle sighed, and kept sneaking closer and closer to Tracey's bag. **"Okay I'll check the bag, Kaz you check the drawers, Mitch, go stand watch," **Mia ordered. The two other girls nodded, and Mia rapidly searched through Tracey's belongings. In a few seconds, she stopped, and cursed under her breath. **"They must be in the drawers, Kaz." **Karlie stared down at the open drawers. 

**"No boxers, Mia." **

**"Y-fronts then." **

**"Um. No Y-fronts, Mia." **

**"What are you on?" **Michelle and Mia peered into the drawers to see all of Tracey's clothes, neatly folded and in rainbow colour order. But not a single sign of any underwear. Tracey was currently in the pool, wearing swimming trunks… so shouldn't his discarded boxers be lying around somewhere? A strip search of the room proved this wrong. The three girls sweatdropped. 

**"Maybe he hid them cos he knew I'd be coming?"** Mia suggested. 

**"Maybe… maybe…"** Michelle began, before sighing. **"Let's never do this again, okay? Next time we just lock him in a cupboard."**

~*~ 

Gary was very smug; entertainment like this was worth the bill for this place. He looked up as Riny walked by him along the poolside, dressed in her detestable black bikini. 

**"Where are they?!" **he joked, placing his two balled up fists on strategic parts of his chest. Erin glared at him, still sore over her teddy's untimely demise, before growling words more fit more Michelle on PMS rather than lil innocent Riny, and stomping off. Gary watched the leaving teenaged girl. 

**"Hey Ash,"** he called, **"you'll never guess what Erin just said about your hat."**

~*~ 

Stunned, Erin walked in to Kobi, where the other girls, including Jesse this time, were all getting ready to go to the restaurant downstairs. It was getting on to 5 in the evening, and the pool wasn't so much fun in the brisk evening breeze. Everyone looked up as she closed the door behind her. 

**"W-what?"** asked Karlie, recognising the look on her face. Erin furrowed her brow. 

**"I-I… Ash just bitch-slapped me…"**

For some reason, they all found this hysterically funny. **"Hey,**" Riny protested. **"It's not funny. It hurt! And he called me Erina-Louise!"** The laughter stopped instantly, and was replaced by a low, ominous 'ooooooo'.

**"What is WITH all the boys today?"** Sarah yelled in exasperation. 

**"Ah well, more boxers for me!" **Mia cackled, exaggeratingly tip-toeing out of the room. Jesse lazily kicked the door shut behind her from where she lounged on the floor. 

**"Well I'm glad SOMEONE is profiting out of all this,"** Erin huffed, as she plonked herself down next to the vanity unit and began the seemingly impossible task of brushing out her wet and tangled hair. 

~*~ 

Mia was enjoying herself immensely – she knew the boys were getting ready in the other girl's room – Tobokeru, because it had a larger bathroom, so the coast was clear. Humming the Mission Impossible theme to herself, she pressed herself flat to the wall for no reason other than for show as she edged her way towards Ash's green backpack. 

A voice nearby made her nearly jump out of her skin, before she realised it was someone in the ensuite shower. Someone singing country songs. 

**"Maybe tonight, I'm gonna tell him, how I feel,"** crooned Gary. **"Maybe I'll leave well enough alone! Maybe, just maybe, he'll wanna be mah baaaay-be! What if he's got plans of his own?"** Mia's stomach ached and her entire body shook from the stress of holding in her uproarious laughter. 

**"What made you say that? Was it the moonlight, was it the starlight, in your eeeeeyes?"** Gary flourished, sending little droplets of water flying out of the cubicle so Mia could only assume he was dancing too. She thought she was gonna pass out as she leaned weakly against the wall. **"What made you say that? Have you been listening to your heart? It's too late now, he don't wanna take it back – it's not real love, what made you say that?" **

**"If there ever was a time for a Dictaphone,"** Mia murmured to herself, gaining more composure as Gary reverted to humming. She gasped as he started singing again, to the same tune. 

**"What made me say that? Rachel wouldn't, bloody leave me aloooone, what could I do? What made me say that? That flat-chested chick is a bitch toooooooooo. It's too late now, I'm having way too much fun! Maybe I'll stop, but only when Tracey kills someone!" **Mia frowned darkly as Gary burst out laughing. 

**"I'll deal with YOU later on, Oak."**

~*~ 

**"Rachel, I was eating,"** Tracey said irritably, feeling edgy around any of the girls. 

**"I know,"** Rachel said simply, escorting him to the very end of the corridor. **"Okay, listen," **she began. **"Karlie got stressed at you because of Gary." **

**"Of Gary?"** he repeated, blankly. Rachel nodded. 

**"He told me that you insulted Karlie's glasses."** Tracey gaped. **"You didn't, did you?"** Rachel asked hurriedly, and Tracey shook his head fiercely. 

**"I'd never! There's nothing wrong with her glasses, and besides, I _know_ how defensive she is about them!" **

**"Good,"** Mia beamed, appearing behind Tracey, startling him. **"Tell HER that," **she smiled. Rachel giggled and opened a cupboard door, and Mia gave Tracey a violent push into the darkness. 

**"Have fun!"** came Michelle's laughing voice as the door swung shut, and the lock clicked into place. 

**"BUT NOT TOO MUCH!"** came Riny's disapproving voice. Tracey stared in disbelief as he heard their voices fade down the corridor. It was dark, and he couldn't see much of anything. 

**"Bitches,"** growled a voice, and he swung around to see Karlie's faint outline in the gloom. Tracey sighed, and began to apologise, _profusely._

~*~ 

10 MINUTES LATER 

~*~ 

The group, minus Karlie and Tracey, sat stuffing their faces, and chatting around the large round table. Suddenly there was a clatter as Erin's fork fell to her plate, her mouth hanging open. 

**"What?" **asked various people. 

**"We just *LOCKED* Karlie somewhere!"** Erin gasped, as everyone's eyes grew huge_._

**"Shit!"** squealed Michelle. **"Where's the damn key?"**

**"You had it!" **

**"I bloody well did not!" **

**"Shit!" **

**"Rach you had it!" **

**"NO I DID NOT! Look, we've been through this! I was not, _myself _then…" **

~*~ 

**"I mean it Karlie,"** Tracey continued to apologise. **"I'm terribly sorry for what you thought I did, and for what I did to Riny's bear."** Karlie shuffled, growing more and more embarrassed by the second; he was apologising for _Gary's_ lie and she was the one who had been most egg-like by burning his sketch book. **"Do you forgive me?" **Tracey pleaded, his eyes now adjusted to the serious lack of light so he could see her haughty stance, and even detect her misery-inducing lack of bandana. 

Karlie sighed, and reached into her pocket, running her fingers over the soft fabric of the bandana before pulling it back on her forehead. Tracey smiled, almost weak with relief. 

**"Does this mean you do forgive me?"** Karlie made an embarrassed 'hmmm' sound, and stopped leaning on the back shelves. 

**"Tracey do I annoy you?"** she blurted, bluntly. **"Cos I could stop…"** she added lamely. Tracey smiled sadly, sure Karlie was a bit… a bit.. well, _passionate_, but he guessed that was one of her endearing traits. 

**"Should I answer something corny like: you used to, but when you weren't attached to me all day I realised how much you mean to me?"** he bluffed, chortling insecurely. 

**"That'd be nice…" **Karlie murmured, startling him, and turning his breathing just a _tad_ bit heavier… 

~*~ 

**"I'm TELLING you, Rina was the last to have it!" **

**"Oblivious!" **

**"Yes, yes you did I TOLD you to hold it!" **

**"You did NOT!" **

**"Erm, young ladies, management has asked me to inform you that if you to not resume to eating your meal quietly, then I-" **

**"Fuck off!" **

**"Michelle!! **

**"Excuse me young lady!?" **

**"Oh excuse _me;_ I said… ***ahem* **…FUCK OFF!"**

~*~ 

**"Karlie, why are you so… infatuated with me?"** Tracey's question caught Karlie off-guard. 

_Because you've got a gorge voice, you're sensitive and you have more topless scenes than Brock_, her brain answered on cue. Outside, she reverted to stalling hysterical laughter. 

_Wouldn't it be great if you two were locked in here forever? OoOoOOh and a deadly virus wiped out mankind, and the entire fate of the human race depended on you and Tracey procreating? _her warped imagination persisted, making Kaz wish dearly that there was some sort of off button for it. Tracey just waited patiently until she could laugh no more, and she lifted her arms listlessly. 

**"Because…"** she began, feeling stupid – as she had _hardly_ been hiding her feelings for him up to now. **"Because… I guess… because you're… well…"** She winced at the word she was about to use to end that sentence – mental note, she thought. Remind me to KILL Rin. Her mush is contagious. **"You,"** she finished, meekly, shyly looking up at him as if awaiting approval. 

Breathlessly, Tracey moved forwards across the few centimetres that separated them. Karlie's heart was beating so fast that it made her pendant jump slightly every time. Tracey was now so close to her than his lips were about a millimetre from the tip of her nose. 

**"Do you have anything else to tell me, Karlie?"** he asked, in an uncharacteristically husky voice. 

**"You mean besides… you're standing on my feet?"**

~*~ 

Mia was now so worked up about the missing key, she stood up abruptly, making everyone shut up and gaze at her extremely bulky looking hip area. 

**"What?"** she asked. **"I'm wearing all of Ash's boxers under my trousers. Whaaaaaat?"**

~*~ 

Aaaaand once again, Tracey was apologising profusely. 

_Don't worry, _that irritating voice in Karlie's warped imagination teased. _You can step on anything of mine, but not my heart! _Who IS that? Karlie thought in bemusement. I have a Rin-clone living in my head making me think MUSH! 

**"It's okay, really," **she managed to choke, out, and then simply choked as she felt Tracey's soft fingertips drift down the sides of her face. Slowly, Tracey removed her glasses, and let them hang by one handle from his left hand, while his right stayed by Karlie's red-hot face. Slowly he let his lips brush against hers. 

**"Don't drop my glasses!"** she gasped, pulling away abruptly. He stared at her cynically, now getting to the point where he needed to kiss her to keep his sanity. **"What? Well YOU tell me where I'll get a new pair on this island, genius!"** Tracey rolled his eyes, his lust making him bold, and he clumsily threw her glasses into a nearby bucket of cold soapy water. **"You're the one putting your hand in there to get em out,"** Karlie murmured, folding her arms obstinately. Her vision had already been limited in the dark, but now she couldn't see anything at all. She flinched as Tracey tried to kiss her again, having not been able to see his approach. 

**"I'm sorry," **she squealed, in an unusually high voice. **"I just, you know, want it to be… really, wonderfully… perfect…" **Tracey smiled, and wrapped his arms around her so she could feel him even if she couldn't see him. 

**"Ah it will be,"** he reassured her gently, **"it's bound to be, cos you yourself, are so incredibly wonderfully perfect…"**

~*~ 

**"Er, guys?" **Ash winced as the warring girls all turned to look at him. He fished inside his jacket pocket, and brought out a small metal key. **"You lookin' for this?"** There was a long silence until… 

**"KILL HIM!!!!!"** bellowed very agitated females. 

~*~ 

Karlie yelped in surprise when Tracey's lips hit hers more forcefully than she had been expecting. Tracey withdrew with a sigh. 

**"Did you just *yelp*?"** he asked, tiredly. 

_Listen,_ complained that chibi-Rin-thing in Karlie's head. _If you don't stop being such a baby, then the others are gonna let you two out and you'll NEVER GET A GOOD SNOG! _The Rin-thing makes sense, Karlie shrugged to herself, before grabbing her beloved by the neck and ramming her tongue down his throat, making _him_ yelp considerably. 

~*~ 

**"It's too quiet in there!" **Trish worried as they stood outside the door. Misty shrugged and reached over with the key, stopping for a second as Sarah grabbed her arm. 

**"I don't think…" **she began, but Misty had already unlocked the door, and pulled down the handle. 

The group of people blinked several times as Karlie fell backwards out of the door she had been leaning against with a wail, and Tracey landed with an 'oouf' sound on top of her. 

**"EGGS! Leave me alone!" **she snarled, pushing Tracey off sensitive areas. Erin's eyes were narrowed rather than wide, as she tutted and waggled her finger at her older friend. 

**"You, make, me sick!"** she reproved, before walking off into Tobokeru. 

**"Jealous," **Karlie murmured, as she and Tracey got to their feet, her grinning widely and triumphantly, and Tracey grinning bashfully. Mia raised her eyebrow. 

**"Wow Tracey, I didn't know you wore lipgloss."** Tracey's blush intensified. 

**"Your neck is a funny place for it though,"** Michelle added dryly. 

~*~ 

Karlie lay pretending to be asleep in Kobi – when in reality she was waiting for 2am to come, so she could return to that wonderful place inside the closet with her Kenji-koi. Hmmmmmmmm, she sighed blissfully. Perfect. 

Her eyes opened slowly as a niggling voice invaded her happiness. 

_Twelve hours ago Duplica died in her boyfriend's arms. Or had you forgotten? _With a troubled frown, Karlie turned over on to her side. Yes, it was weird at how quickly they adjusted… negative to positive in the shortest space of time. Blanching at the idea of emotional control, Karlie frowned, and pulled her legs up to the foetal position. 

My feelings are my own, she reassured herself. 


	15. Starry Eyed Messiah

**THEME SONG: **"Murder on the Dancefloor" – _Sophie Ellis Bextor_

* * *

Brock didn't know if the news he and Sarah were about to deliver was good news or bad – undoubtedly Tracey would be ecstatic, wanting to stay near the repeatedly useful supply closet at the end of the hotel corridor. Ignoring the unbelievably annoying lift bidding him farewell and spasing out at Sarah's unidentifiable presence, Brock wandered carelessly into Kobi, and was startled back to reality by angry female screams and a barrage of pillows knocking him out of the door and whacking it shut behind him. Sarah raised her eyebrow at him, before slipping into Tobukeru to relay the news to the girls in there. 

Erin (after Michelle showed them the trick to waking her) whooped, and began to sing the theme tune to Pikachu's Vacation as she linked arms with the younger (yet disgruntlingly taller) brunette as she and Sarah made the short distance to Kobi. 

**"The roads are what?" **repeated Jesse, in disbelief as she sat on her bed in the yoga position and waved her wide-spread fingers around to dry her 'Perfidious Puce' nail-varnish. 

**"The roads are closed till Friday," **yawned Sarah, sitting cross-legged on the floor and fiddling with her fingers as her eyelids drooped. 

**"But th- hey, wait, what day is it?" **giggled Trish – the other authors giggled as well – they had totally lost track of time. 

**"Um. It's Monday," **answered Brock, wincing at the rather long time span which they would have to spend in Kiwi Cove. The others looked delighted at the prospect of a 'holiday' smack in the middle of their bizarre pilgrimage. Gary seemed to be the only member of the group aghast at the thought of staying in the hotel for at least four more days… 

**"Wait a second, you lot can't pretend that this isn't really mysterious in our situation," **frowned Michelle from where she leaned against the wall. 

**"It's not actually that mysterious," **murmured Tracey, his voice thick through Karlie's neck. **"Mandarin is prone to this sort of thing. Storms that knock over trees, landslides, mudslides, well, you get the picture. The entire centre of the island is a network of dense tropical vegetation and rocky valleys and inclines. There's no way we can get to the side of the island we need to if there's a problem with the Haruna Highway that runs between all four ports." **Tracey stopped and gently rocked Karlie backwards and forwards on his lap. **"What?"**

**"That's disgusting," **sniped Jesse, swinging her legs and almost knocking Ash flying, while Rachel and Todd stared gloomily at each other. 

**"What is?" **Tracey asked, in a bemused tone. Jesse rolled her eyes. 

**"How is it you expect us to understand a word you say when your lips are stuck to Karlie's neck?" **Jesse asked, folding her arms and glaring icily. Tracey blushed bright red, his cheeks so hot that Karlie felt the human instinct to move away from the heat. She folded her arms stubbornly. 

**"Yeah, police said it was a landslide," **hurriedly continued Brock. **"And the highway is blocked. He said that it was too dangerous for a gang of kids to try and make it through the forest alone." **Trish clicked her tongue in exasperation, and Pikachu, who was sitting on her lap looked up at her with wide brown eyes. 

**"Hah! C'mon guys, we've been through tons of forests! Viridian, Ilex, and besides, my Pokémon will protect us!" **laughed Ash, snapping into his victory pose. Gary snorted. 

**"If you have any left, you trade-happy lunatic."**

**"Shuddup Gareth," **Ash scowled. 

**"Not a tropical forest Ash," **Tracey warned, having rediscovered his voice. **"Besides, it'd probably take us longer to make our way through there on foot than it would to wait for the road to clear and catch a bus."**

**"Then it's settled!" **James squealed in delight. 

**"We're staying!" **whooped Erin, flipping her bushy brown hair over her shoulder as she leapt up. 

**"LAST ONE IN THE POOL IS A ROTTEN POKEMON EGG!" **cried Trish, managing to pour all her maturity into a single sentence before dashing into the en suite bathroom to retrieve her still damp swimsuit from the bath tub. 

**"Hey that reminds me," **Ash protested, trying to stand up and whimpering when the stampede of Tobukeru girls knocked him back down. **"You promised that when I was thirteen you'd tell me how that egg appeared when we left Totodile and Corsola with that man in Goldenrod…" **Misty sighed. 

**"Ash, you're _fifteen_ and I _still _don't think you're old enough to know."**

~*~ 

Erin sat at the vanity mirror in Tobukeru, squinting and pursing up her forehead as she plucked the tiny, newly-emerging hairs from her brow region. It was the only feminine ritual she indulged herself in, reminiscing with a shudder how her older cousin used to tell her that she'd end up like Burt from Sesame Street if she didn't. She put down the tweezers, satisfied, and sat back against the back of the chair; groaning, she tried to brush her sleep-matted hair out. 

She _had_ been planning on getting a well-needed hair cut just before her little trip out of reality. It made her laugh when people suggested that if she grew her hair longer it would thin out. No, her hair didn't grow downwards, it grew outwards. Pretty soon she wouldn't be able to walk next to anyone of her own height without them getting a mouthful of her hair. Her hair was currently almost halfway down her back, reminding her of her Catholic convent school girl days, where plaits were mandatory and nuns told her that if she cut her suffocating hair short she would burn in hell for all eternity. 

Erin ran her fingers through her hair, twiddling with the curling split-ends, before laying the hairbrush down on the vanity unit and pulling her hair into a loose bun. Oh well, the quicker she got in the pool, the quicker the demon hair would (appear) thin. 

~*~ 

**"Let's play 'what if'."**  
Brock's suggestion was met with a mixed reaction. Ash seemed zealously enthused until Todd explained to him what the game entailed, and his eyes grew wider than was healthy with shock; yet Brock carried on regardless. 

**"What if you had to choose between the girls?" **he asked. There was silence. 

**"Choose em for what?" **blinked James. Brock rolled his eyes. 

**"You know. For _it_."**

**"It?"**

**"IT!"**

**"What it?"**

**"IT!!" **bellowed the six others, cowing James immediately. 

**"Ew Brock…"**

**"Karlie…"**

**"I choose Trish."**

**"I don't think she's the toy-boy type…"**

**"Does Misty count as a girl?"**

**"Duplica."**

**"Dude, that's necrophilia."**

**"Is saying Rachel being like, unfaithful to Richie or what?"**

**"Mmmmmm Sarah in a few more years."**

**"Heh, Erin would flip at this conversation."**

**"Well, Jesse's pretty good in bed."**

**"…"**

**"…"**

**"…"**

**"Dude, no sharing."**

**"What's with this dude thing anyway?"**

**"Dunno; picked it up from Mitch."**

**"Wonder what she'd be like in the sack…"**

**"Okay guys this is just sick."**

**"Yeah can we stop this now before they all come in and sacrifice us to the mighty Oestrogen Deity?"**

**"Hey, what about Riny?"**

**"Are you kiddin' me? I'm a sick bloke, but I don't have a Lolita complex thanks very much."**

**"Hey Gar', what about you? Been noticing a lot of sexual tension with you lately – you've been peeling labels off soda bottles and everything."**

**"Keep your nose out of my sexual tension," **Gary sneered, standing up abruptly and putting an end to the testosterone soaked banter. 

**"How about Mia?" **teased Todd, standing up as well and making fervent, wet kissing motions in the air, with his eyes pinched shut and rubbing his hands up and down an invisible back. 

**"Shut up stripes or I'll shove your camera where the flash bulb don't illuminate," **Gary growled, his cheeks flushing ever so slightly. 

**"Oh, Mia! MARIA! Mia! Oh Mamma Mia!" **Todd continued his sexual harassment on the air, while the other guys fell about laughing as Gary gritted his teeth. 

**"Si?" **came the icy, yet slightly amused voice of the Puerto-Rican American, magically appearing as ever behind the now frozen-with-fear Todd. 

**"They're practicing for a musical," **smirked Gary, exulting in the chance to use one of Mia's snipes against her. She arched her eyebrow at him, and walked past them, making them all cower away from seemingly no reason. 

**"Gimme, gimme, gimme…" **she sang under her breath, giving Gary a searching look with one of her emerald green eyes before strolling out of Akudou. Gary grinned to himself secretly and raked his hand through his auburn hair while Todd and the others dissolved into helpless laughter. 

~*~ 

**"Lookin'," **sang Erin under her breath as she strolled underneath the trees. **"Lookin' for somethin' that's not even the-e-ere."**

**"What _is_ it with these twerps and their infernal singing," **Jesse muttered darkly as she strode ahead. Ash was moodily walking along, with his hands shoved in his pockets, still sore about an earlier bout with Gary. Michelle had one earphone in her ear and was dancing down the thin dirt road. 

**"How come the others got to stay at the hotel?" **complained Ash, kicking a rotting branch off into the dense foliage. 

**"Because Brock's a bastard," **Michelle growled, jabbing rewind on her walkman as a disliked song dared to start. 

~*~ 

**"I'm telling you this is pointless," **Tracey moaned. **"Why doesn't anyone listen to me?"**

**"I listen to you sweetie," **Karlie soothed, stroking his arm as they picked their way through the forest. 

**"Brock just thinks that we should check out all possible, well, _escape routes_," **Mia answered simply. Gary shot a look at her; she made him feel nervous – she was being far too meek today. He would have expected her to beat the living tar out of Todd earlier. 

**"Okay, no escape routes," **laughed Karlie, twirling around with her arms outspread a few times. **"Tracey. Bush. Come." **Mia rolled her eyes and stalked onwards with her arms folded. Gary couldn't hold back an uncharacteristic snigger as Tracey and Karlie disappeared from sight. 

**"Such an _unfortunate_ choice of words…"** he chortled, as he padded after Mia. 

~*~ 

**"Do you hear something?" **Jesse mused, gazing warily into the thick curtain of trees. Something was definitely rustling. Rustling ominously. 

**"Ash you prat," **Michelle yelled, noticing the boy's absence, but fear protruding into her voice. **"It's not feckin' funny okay? Get out here, now." **The rustling continued, and there was a sound like a sword being pulled slowly out of a metal sheath. Erin grabbed hold of Michelle and whimpered. 

**"It's not funny!" **she repeated Michelle's words. **"S-s-stop it," **she stuttered as the noise came again. 

**"I… know that sound," **Jesse murmured, her fingers tensing. Her cornflower blue eyes widened in full realisation. 

**"You two…" **Erin whispered, as she realised what the noise reminded her of. Something camouflaged green flashed among the leaves. 

**"OH MY GOD!" **shrieked Jesse, as a well-feared Bug Pokémon leapt from the bushes with a high-pitched battle-cry. 

~*~ 

Mia kicked skid marks in the mud with her shoes, supported by her arms on the mossy boulder. Gary stood a few metres away from her, his arms crossed around his torso. 

**"We should go back, Tracey was right. There's no easy way outta this place," **she said, anxious to cool off in the pool. 

**"Nah, we can't go back yet angel-face," **Gary sneered, running his tongue across his teeth. **"Have to give Tracey and Kaz chance to get past third base." **Mia shuddered. **"You know, you should be thanking me. If it wasn't for me, those two wouldn't have got together."**

**"Yeah Oak, you're a real hero," **Mia replied, tiredly. She looked up, ad smiled at him. He flinched. 

**"You're being all demure an' stuff," **he murmured lamely. 

**"Just cos I know you're not as bad and tough as you think you are," **she answered, smiling to herself. 

It was pretty strange – you fantasise yourself as being the girlfriend of an anime character… you write stories about them, make up a whole alternative universe where you pair yourself with this –whom you assume is- made up character. And then fwap. You're suddenly in a whole other parallel television badly dubbed reality with said animated-hunk. And you find out that yes, he is as big a dick as the creators tried to make him seem in season one. God it was all like a really bad soap opera. A terrible, god-awful soap opera written by Riny or someone. 

Well Rachel had got her Richie (sorta) and Karlie had most definitely got her Tracey… would the pattern follow through and deliver an adoring Gary at her feet in due time? But Mia's problem was that she wasn't entirely sure if it was the real Gary who beckoned her so, or was it the Gary that she had fashioned herself, in her fanfiction? She sighed heavily, freaking Gary out even more who had been wondering why she had been staring at him in thoughtful silence for almost three minutes solid. 

**"Gary, why are you such a jerk?"**

~*~ 

**"Jesus CHRIST!" **Erin shrieked in her typical fashion, latching herself onto Michelle who was not entirely thrilled about having to run for her life and carry Erin at the same time. **"Michelle this is all your fault!"**

**"How the hell is it MY fault?" **she spluttered, darting to the left as a severed tree toppled over nearby, keeping focused on Jesse's running heels ahead of her. 

**"You and your ruddy red hair-dye!" **Erin fumed, squeaking as she felt actual wind vibrations from the enraged Scyther ripple the hair on her arm. 

**"ME!? What about JESSE!?"**

**"IT'S CERISE!" **the older woman yelled back over her shoulder, pausing to swear when she came up against what would be traditionally called: The Dead End. 

~*~ 

**"Come on Gary, I know that you hate not being included," **Mia prodded, insistently, as Gary physically squirmed at the shorter girl's interrogation. Mia of course, took his reluctance to speak as confirmation, and smirked to herself. Gary whirled around to defend himself, and found that Mia had been standing a little closer behind him than he had anticipated. _Houston, we have lift-off._

Gary wasn't particularly lanky, and the very top of Mia's head was adjacent to the very tip of his nose. In fact she had been standing so close the two body parts were currently gently grazing each other. Both teens gulped. Gary smirked to himself; perfect situation. He couldn't have planned it better himself. Maybe he had planned it, subconsciously or something. Man he was good. Time to turn on the Gary charm – tried and tested and resulting in a large squad of cheerleaders (he wondered if they were still waiting back at that hotel for him – it had been almost four years…). 

**"Why don't boys like talking about their feelings, Gary?" **Mia asked, needing to break the oppressive silence. Gary smiled, a smile which he had planned to appear wistful. 

**"I guess guys just really need to talk about these things with a girl they actually like…" **As his botched up compliment left his lips, Gary groaned. Mia frowned darkly and menacingly. 

_Houston, we have a problem…_

~*~ 

**"Aaaaaaaaaaaaash!" **screamed Erin in terror as the Scyther advanced on her; she was the only one still standing, as Jesse had run screaming into a tree and Michelle had tripped on her large and chunky heels. Using all and any skills she had picked up from dancing, Erin threw her slight form backwards, away from the thrusting sickle blade that was the adult Scyther's arm. 

She felt the very tip graze a diagonal line across her chest, and noticed in dismay as a horrendously large amount of hair from one side of her head was severed, and fluttered down to the grassy floor, glinting gold in the patchy sun. The momentum sent her rolling into a swampy ditch, where she lay exhausted. 

Michelle had now struggled over to a dazed Jesse, who was still lying on the floor, and tried to shake her fully awake. The Scyther advanced on them. 

**"Where the FUCK is Todd when I need him?" **cursed Michelle, almost on the verge of tears. Primal instincts took control, and as the Sycther raised its arm to attack, Michelle kicked outwards with her large shoe. 

She blinked. The Scyther blinked back. In confusion it tried to shake its arm loose from the chunky platform heel which it hadn't _quite_ managed to cut all the way through. 

~*~ 

Mia stormed off, blatantly ignoring Gary's moaning plea for medical aid. Fuming, she charged into the vegetation, snapping branches and leaving an innocent Sudowoodo wishing it had run into a rabid Blastoise rather than her. 

**"Damn sexy idiot!"** she screamed, and balled her hands up into fists. Swinging her foot viciously, she attempted to take some anger out on a nearby boulder. The Graveler lumbered away as fast as its stubby legs could carry it, and Mia was left with a lot of forward momentum and a lack of anything in front of her. 

**"Eep!"** she squealed, as she went rolling down the grassy incline - it wasn't exactly steep, and if there were any rocks she thankfully seemed to be missing them - she just couldn't stop or see where she was headed. 

**"Please God don't let me roll into Kaz and Tracey's bush,"** she prayed to herself. **"I'm too young for that..."**

Mia came to a gentle stop, face first in something soft and sweet smelling. She groaned, and out of the corner of her eye saw red - literally - and sat bolt upright, tapping herself all over to see where the blood could be possibly coming from. 

**"You is okay?"** came a worried, accented voice, and Mia sweatdropped and looked up. There was a guy - and judging from his accent a Spanish guy, *Maria* noted to herself - about her age, looking at her with concern in his twinkling blue eyes. **"If you wanted some cake, you can just request,"** the dark-haired teenager grinned, his peculiar English warming the girly side of Mia's heart. 

**"Me llamo Maria,"** she murmured bashfully standing up and flicking the strawberry jam out of her hair as she sweatdroppingly surveyed the hunk's totally smushed sponge cake. 

**"Hola, bonita muchacha,"** the boy teased, showing his perfectly straight white teeth. **"Soy Tony."** Mia gasped for a minute, slipping back into English. 

**"Uh, oh wow really? Really? As in Tony like Tony and Maria from Westside Story?" **She caught herself giggling just in time. 

**"Si, we are - fated to be together,"** Tony gleamed, running the tip of his unnaturally pink tongue across his lips. **"You stay at Pokémon Centre?"**

**"No, no,"** she shook her head. **"We're staying at the Takai-Ryokan."** Tony's ears almost seemed to prick. 

**"We?" **

**"Yo y mis amigos,"** Mia explained. **"Un grupo muy grande."** Tony seemed deep in thought momentarily, before looking up and flashing that gorgeous smile again. 

**"Picnic with me?"** he extended his hand to her as she scowled at various grass stains on her *only* outfit. **"Por favor, Maria?" **Mia melted - normally she opposed to her full name, but no one had ever said 'Maria' like Tony just had. She'd never *known* her name could SOUND so damn sexy… 

~*~ 

Ash wandered into the clearing whistling, with Pikachu chittering away lovingly on his shoulder. 

**"Hey guys," **he said, with a little surprise evident in his voice, as he blinked at the scene. Jesse had curled herself into a ball, wailing at the top of her voice and was hugging her long hair protectively into her chest. Erin was screaming her head off as she emerged from the ditch, pulling handful after handful of detached strands of hair from her head and trying in vain to hold her sliced clothes together. Michelle was being dragged around the clearing on her shoulders, and screaming bloody murder as the frustrated Scyther tried to shake its blade free from her thick heel. 

**"Michelle! Take off the frelling shoe!" **Erin yelled, standing up and gesturing stroppily, with hair flying every which way. 

**"Are you kiddin' me? I LOVE these shoes!" **Michelle yelled back, in-between yelps of pain as she was dragged through a thorny plant by the trying to take flight Pokémon. Luckily for her, the shoes were shoddily made, and the lining ripped, sending the Scyther to a screeching halt, the heel and a scrap of leather still stuck obstinately to its shaver. Michelle was lying exhausted on her back, breathing heavily amongst the dust clouds the Scyther had skidded up. Ash beamed. 

**"Oh wow! A Scyther! Pikachu, ThunderShock!" **

The small yellow Pokémon jumped off Ash's shoulder, and exploded into a crackling yellow sphere. It released a bolt that hit the Scyther dead-on, and the air filled with a sickly, smoky tang. Erin and Michelle blinked. Jesse twitched. 

**"Pokéba-" **Ash began to rear back, but then stopped in surprise. **"Where did it go?" **he asked, in a forlorn tone. There was nothing in the space where the Scyther had been save for the now charred remnants of Michelle's shoe, and a pile of perfectly untouched leaves. Michelle shuddered, and stood up rubbing her grazed shoulders, standing lopsided on the single shoe. The scowl on her face turned to helpless laughter when Erin limped over, still holding her clothes together. The Scyther had slashed at her diagonally, and had not only slashed one half of her hair, but also her clothes from shoulder to waist. Erin whimpered. 

**"I need new clothes…"**

**"Not to mention a haircut," **sneered Jesse, walking over to them holding her head. 

**"You know what," **Ash began, petting Pikachu on the head whimsically. **"I think that Scyther was gonna hurt you lot." **The girls ignored him. **"I wonder what happened to make a Pokémon attack humans like that…"**

**"I doubt it was a real Scyther, Ash," **Michelle snapped, wincing as she felt the sting that meant that the Pokémon World healing mechanism was kicking in, and the wounds on her upper-back started to disinfect themselves. 

**"Okay so who had the dream?" **Erin asked, irritably, raking her fingers through her hair and dislodging yet more severed strands. 

**"That would be me," **answered Jesse, still in a dazed tone. 

**"Why didn't you tell us?!" **screeched Michelle, and Jesse glared at her. 

**"Because I ALWAYS have the nightmare that a Scyther is trying to cut my hair off. I didn't think anything of it!" **The other three sighed. 

**"Back to the hotel!" **Ash commanded. **"Pikachu and I will protec-"**

**"Oh gimme a break…" **Michelle muttered, shoving him out of the way and stomping away in front, making the others giggle at her rise/fall, induced by her lack of a shoe. 

~*~ 

**"You guys!" **came a desperate voice, shocking the people at the poolside into alert. Gary came sprinting from the veranda doors, almost tripping over an inflatable Lapras and came to a panting stop in front of the deckchairs where the others were relaxing. 

**"Gary, what's wrong?" **Erin asked in alarm, her hair now in a conspicuous-looking bun. 

**"It's Mia," **he gasped. **"I can't find her anywhere. She got mad at me, and then there was some hitting, and then ran off and, and I can't find her!" **Rachel hoisted herself out of the pool, and grabbed Gary by his yin-yang pendant. 

**"Listen you," **she snarled at her partner. **"If anything has happened to Mia I'll bloody well kill you." **Her tone softened and she let go when she noticed that Gary was too upset to retort. 

**"Okay, calm down," **Todd said, slowly. **"Where are Karlie and Tracey?"**

**"Somewhere between third and fourth base by now I'd expect," **Gary still found the compassion to jeer. He swung around when Karlie threw a volleyball at the back of his head. 

**"We're here you idiot! We have been for the last half an hour!"**

**"Ah. My bad," **Todd grinned, earning a deathly glare from Gary. 

**"Listen, this is serious. We've gotta go and find her. Now. If she's gotten into trouble I'll, I'll…"**

Mia strolled in, humming happily. She stopped when she realised that everyone was staring at her in bewilderment, and that Gary was bordering on a mental breakdown. She blinked. 

**"Er. Hiya." **

**"Crisis over," **Misty sighed, sinking back under the water and resurfacing on her back to do a few laps of backstroke. Gary glared at the brunette, before stalking off into the hotel. Mia shrugged, and made her way over to sit on the end of Erin's deck chair. 

**"Mia, what happened? You're all grass-stains," **Erin clucked disapprovingly. Mia eyed her back. 

**"You can talk. Why are you wearing Richie's clothes?" **

**"That's not the half of it!" **sniggered Sarah, pulling Erin's hair bobble out, and revealing the lopsided bangs to the world once more. Mia stared in amusement. 

**"What, did you let Meowth give you a makeover?" **she snorted, earning herself a deft swipe of claws from the sun-bathing Scratch Cat lying nearby. **"Anyway," **she continued, before Erin could explain. **"Mia's in luuuuurve!" **she squeaked, uncharacteristically. Erin blinked. 

**"With Gary."**

**"No, there's this guy called Tony-"**

**"Gary," **Sarah repeated, in a disbelieving tone. 

**"No really, Tony-" **

**"But Mia! You go with Gary!" **Trish whined. Mia grunted. 

**"Okay do you guys wanna hear this or not?"**

**"Yes we do," **Rachel answered, fwaping the glassy eyed Erin on the head with her palm. **"Go on."**

**"Okay well, I kinda klutzed into him…" **she smiled. **"He's Spanish, staying at the Pokémon Centre, and he's just so totally BISHIE!" **Michelle arched her eyebrow. 

**"Uh, Mia? How the hell can he be Spanish? Where the hell is Spain in the Pokémon world?" **Mia had no reply. 

**"Maybe he came from our world," **Rachel mused. **"You should ask him."**

**"Oh yeah," **Karlie scoffed. **"Oh excuse me Hunk, but do you come from the Real World? Yeah. Great chat-up line."**

**"Anyway," **Mia continued, impatiently. **"There's this sorta party thing at the docks tonight, and I promised I'd come with you lot. NOT as his date," **she stressed, when she saw Rachel's eyes light up. **"I said I'd have ONE dance with him."**

**"I still don't like this Mia," **Michelle muttered, folding her arms. 

**"But you're supposed to love Gary…" **Erin murmured, broken-hearted at the imaginary break-up. 

**"Gary's pig-headed, rude and conceited," **was Mia's snapped reply. 

**"Never stopped you before," **snorted Karlie. Mia smiled slightly. 

**"Besides, he practically told me today that he didn't like me…" **There was a silence before… 

**"What… kind of a party?" **Sarah asked hesitantly. Mia grinned. 

**"It's a luau."**

**"A what?"**

**"Luau. You know. Hula dancing, grass skirts, coconut bikinis, all that jazz." **Rachel squealed at the image. 

**"WOW! How fun!" **

**"Did you mean that sincerely or sarcastically?" **Trish teased the blonde. **"It's hard to tell with you rude teenagers." **Sarah squirted suntan lotion over the dark-haired woman, who yelped at the cold. 

**"Yeah, like you're much better!"**

**"You're lucky Trish, you'll be the only one of us with a coconut bikini that actually fits," **Erin sighed. 

**"Ah I dunno. I think Tracey would fit one perfectly," **Trish grinned back, earning a livid howl from Karlie, and a lilo to the head. 

**"Incidentally," **continued Michelle, regardless of the carnage. **"What coconut bikinis? I dunno about you but I don't carry one around with my emergency tissues and plasters."**

**"Yeah we'll have to go shopping," **Sarah mused. **"We'd have to anyway. Mitch needs new shoes, Riny needs new clothes…"**

**"YES!" **Rachel cried in delight. **"I haven't been shopping in aaaaages!" **Erin and Mia looked at each other and whimpered. 

**"Rina… I dun wanna goooo…" **Mia whined. 

**"I hate girly shopping," **Erin stated, obstinately. **"Me and Mia'll stay here with the guys."**

**"Oh no you won't," **Karlie said, matter-of-factly. **"You're gonna pick out your luau costumes." **Erin stared at her. 

**"It's a skirt made of hay and a fruit cut in half. I think I trust you to pick one out for me."**

**"Oh doooo you," **Karlie smirkingly repeated, arching her eyebrow. Erin sighed. 

**"Okay fine, I'll come. But I won't like it. I won't!! And you lot aren't going _anywhere_ until you sort out my bloody hair!"**

~*~ 

The scissors in her friend's hand glinted ominously. Erin gulped. It wasn't like she was particularly vain when it came to her hair… 

But having her friends arguing over who got to butcher her hair even further was quite bizarre. 

**"You take that side," **Trish instructed Michelle and Karlie, handing them both complimentary scissors supplied by the hotel. **"Sarah-"**

**"Uh-uh, no way!" **the youngest girl waved her hands. **"I don't wanna be one of the ones she kills." **Trish smiled. 

**"Okay then… you watch from the front and tell us when it goes wrong." **Erin began to feel sick to her stomach. **"Mia and Rachel take the other side," **Trish continued. **"And I'll take her fringe."**

**"There's nothing wrong with her fringe," **Misty pointed out from where she sat on Michelle's bed watching with growing amusement. 

**"We're giving her a whole new 'do," **Rachel explained, from where she was gently combing sections of Erin's hair, and Mia was manically hacking into them. Erin's eyes fluttered closed. 

Getting on to half an hour later, Sarah's mouth was practically on the floor, and all sides declared themselves officially finished. Erin peeked out at them from one eye, and her heart fell when she realised they were all staring at her in bewilderment. 

**"We… did THAT!?" **Michelle murmured, in disbelief. Erin wailed. 

**"Jesus, how bad is it?" **she asked. 

**"It's not bad," **Karlie answered, in the same tone as Michelle. 

**"It's… it's brilliant!" **Trish gaped. Mia whooped and slapped a high-five with Rachel. Erin dashed to a mirror. They had cut her hair into a bob, but as the Scyther had cut so high up, her hair was layered and flicky. Gorgeous – maybe too so for Erin. She blushingly hugged all her friends. 

**"You should go into business together," **she remarked, pulling her hair into the familiar low ponytail. **"Now I never thought I'd say this, but let's shop."**

~*~ 

Mia and the guys lounged lazily in the central room, Kobi. The adjoining doors were open, and girls ran throughout the three rooms, struggling into the itchy skirts and applying body-glitter all over. The boys were already wearing Hawaiian style shirts with shorts, but Mia was still in her grassy clothes from earlier. 

**"Put them into wash while we're at the Luau Mia," **Tracey advised. **"There's a laundry downstairs."**

**"Bring 'em down now," **Brock said, standing up. **"I've got to put a load in anyway."**

Mia padded after Brock, holding her recently purchased grass skirt and trying to figure out a way to turn it into trousers. It was also painfully obvious that this was one of those occasions where a girl really has to wear knickers, rather than tartan boxers. 

**"Okay," **Brock began, as they entered the dimly lit laundry room, and he walked over to a large machine and began fiddling with the dials. He froze when he turned around to see Mia holding out her stained clothes, clad in a sports-bra and a pair of (Todd's) boxer shorts. 

**"Hey Brock, you forg-" **called Tracey, bursting into the room carrying one of James' questionable disguises. He too froze, and began to babble, not knowing where to look. Mia sighed in exasperation. 

**"Oh please, you're pathetic. I've just spent the last two days in a frelling bikini, that showed a lot more flesh than this!" **Tracey and Brock continued to freak out, and Mia threw her clothes over Brock's head, and stormed out into the corridor regardless. Tracey shrank back from her as she approached him. **"At least I _have_ underwear," **she sniped, before strolling purposely down the hallway. 

~*~ 

**"Just bribing the DJ," **Mia told her friends when she returned. The large room was full of dancing people – the music was loud, the lights flashy, the boys perverts and Erin was going around confiscating cigarettes and putting coasters underneath cups. It was definitely a party. 

**"So where's this Tony guy then?" **Rachel teased, sipping her punch delicately. 

**"He here," **came the broken accented voice, and Mia's heart leapt up and banged against her tonsils. **"Hola Maria," **he murmured. The others watched and sweatdropped as the two had a rapid conversation in Spanish. 

**"Hell, I take that for GCSE and I didn't get a word," **Karlie sighed, swigging down the rest of her punch and resuming her search for Tracey. Michelle laughed. 

**"Viva forever!" **she teased, before anticipating Erin charging over to give Tony the mandatory 'boyfriend check', which scared off more suitors of her friends than anything else, and grabbed her younger friend before spinning her on to the dance floor, where the DJ had just begun to play Mia's _Grease_ soundtrack. The population of the Pokémon world had never heard it before obviously, but by now they were either too into the swing of things or too drunk to realise, and carried on dancing. 

Mia tore herself away from Tony to join Erin and Michelle on the dance floor, where they launched themselves into a full on version of _Grease Lightning. _As she did the compulsory arm movements, Mia was terribly aware of Tony's piercing eyes watching her every move from where he leant up against the wall. 

Meanwhile, Gary was resorting to desperate measures… 

**"Chat-up lines?" **he repeated dubiously, too anxious to realise that (a) Brock was totally and utterly the wrong person to be asking advice on love and (b) Brock was totally and utterly sloshed. In the alcoholic sense of the word. Brock mumbled a few illegible words of encouragement, before lurching off to find a corner to sit down/throw up/die. 

James was currently trying to court a coconut-clad young woman, who was sweatdropping from both the attentions of James and a dashing blonde man, who looked like he had more muscles than anything else. 

**"Why don't you just settle this like a man?" **Jesse snapped when James came whining to her. 

**"Because men are prone to violence…" **he whimpered. 

Gary danced up to where Mia was currently shaking her funky thing to _You're The One That I Want_. He blushed hotly, for one of the first times in his life. 

**"Hey Gary," **she smiled, obviously having too much fun to remember that she wasn't talking to him. Gary burned even hotter, and leant over to say something into her ear. Mia stopped dancing. **"What?" **He tried again. **"Sorry I really can't hear you!" **she yelled back. Gary took a deep breath. 

**"IS IT HOT IN HERE OR IS IT JUST YOU?!" **he yelled. At the precise moment Olivia Newton John ceased her singing. The entire hall stopped and stared at him, while Erin, Michelle and the others fell about laughing. 

**"Oh I dunno, I'm pretty warm myself," **cracked the DJ, before switching the track to _Hopelessly Devoted_. Mia's mouth was open in a silent O, and was startled when Tony came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. 

**"We dance now, Maria?" **he asked, and she wordlessly nodded. Gary watched her being twirled away, mortification still evident on his face. Michelle came up behind him and slapped him on the back, still giggling. 

**"Oh that was so good it just HAD to be FATTENING," **she teased, stopping abruptly when Gary whirled around and stormed towards where Tony was dancing with Mia. 

**"Mi-" **he began, before being knocked forward by a lunatic dancing couple (Ash and Misty). Flailing, he grabbed hold of the nearest thing to keep himself up, but his chin still hit the floor with a thud. He peered upwards through the coloured blurs now infiltrating his vision. Mia gaped down at him in horror. He'd grabbed hold of her skirt and pulled it straight down. 

Fuming and wordless, Mia kicked him in the face and stormed out of the bay doors into the gardens, hoisting up her skirt as she went. Tony followed her, calling her name, and Gary just stood there desolately. 

**"Wow folks, what an exciting night! Never a dull moment with _that_ couple!" **the DJ cracked again, before the CD was changed all together, and the goth band The Spinarak Sisters' new single started to pump from the oversized speakers. 

~*~ 

**"You know who's here tonight," **babbled the woman behind Trish in the queue for the toilets. **"Drake, the famous Orange League Master." **_Ex-master_ Trish initially subconsciously corrected, before the realisation hit her, and she grabbed the startled woman by the garland of island flowers around her neck. 

**"WHO WHAT WHEN HOW WHERE?!" **she demanded. 

~*~ 

Mia sat on the broad tree branch, looking out towards the night-lit, and very stereotypical calm blue ocean. She wanted to cry, but she was too angry to allow herself. The tropical breeze ruffled her skirt, and her hair, and the body glitter on her arm glinted in the starlight as she raised her arm to push her hair back. 

All at once, she became aware of a voice below her perch, and peered down through the leaves. Tony was leaning against the trunk, singing sweetly. 

**_""The most beautiful sound I ever heard:_**

**_Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria._**

**_All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word:_**

**_Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria._**

**_Maria, I've just met a girl named Maria,_**

**_and suddenly the name will never be the same to me…"_**

Mia quietly slipped down the tree, and Tony immediately took her hands. 

**"That was bea-" **she began, but he shushed her by putting his index finger gently on her lips. 

**"Meet, the Cantaloupe Café, tomorrow?" **he pleaded. Mia felt uneasy. 

**"Oh, I don't know Tony…"**

**"Por favour, Maria?" **Mia squirmed under his intense gaze. 

**"Sure. Why not…"**

~*~ 

**"Drake, Drake, Drake, Drake…" **Trish sang happily to herself as she locked up the doors adjoining the rooms for the night. So involved in her fantasy was she, that she forgot to give Karlie her nightly lecture about The Cupboard. The girls in Tobukeru were asleep almost instantly, totally exhausted from their evening. Meanwhile, in Kobi, Karlie and Mia stayed awake, talking in hushed tones. 

**"Well, g'night," **Karlie said finally. 

**"I wish sweet, if not lurid, dreams of Tracey upon thee Kaz," **Mia yawned, stretching out on her bed. 

**"Bet you dream of Tony," **Karlie teased back. 

And Mia did… 

~*~ 

Mia hesitantly waked up to the café doors. It was bustling with people, in the midst of which was a smiling and waving Tony. Mia smiled back, and slipped into the seat opposite him. He greeted her with a gentlemanly kiss on the back of her hand, and she blushed lightly. 

Gary slipped into the café, scowling at the couple gabbering on in Spanish. He sat in a booth behind Mia's back, and peered over the top of his menu at them. 

**"Hello sir, can I take your-" **began the waitress. 

**"Get lost!" **Gary hissed, before returning to glaring at the back of Mia's head. The twinkie waitress blinked and then trotted off. 

Mia and Tony were leaning in to each other on their elbows, deeply in conversation. Tony reached up with one hand, keeping one firmly under the table, and gently touched the side of Mia's face, driving Gary wild. Mia coloured immediately, so red that Gary could tell from sitting behind her. Tony leaned forwards and the two met in a kiss, making Gary rise from his seat. 

His breath caught in his throat as he noticed that Tony's other hand had risen in the air, and a sharp knife blade was protruding from his palm. Sickeningly, the knife seemed to push its way out of Tony's hand, and he fingered it's blade while he continued to kiss the oblivious Mia. 

~*~ 

"_Jacqueline," hissed Author, rising from her desk in a rage. "Why is Soul's partner there?"_

_Jacqui smiled sweetly at the angry apparition._

_(__Because my stories always have a Prince Charming.)_

~*~ 

Gary stood, stricken in horror as a form of dark violet blood poured from the wound in Tony's hand, and he stroked the back of Mia's hair with the side of the blade. 

Still she didn't notice. Her pendant began to feel uncomfortable under her top, as if it were digging into her skin, but she ignored it. And for a brief instant she felt as if she could hear Duplica's voice whispering in her ear. But she ignored that too. 

She continued to kiss Tony, while he slid the flat side of the curved knife down her back. 


End file.
